‘Thief’ confronted by shopkeeper who uncovers clothes in her bag: Helensvale shopping centre QLD
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Awkward moment The ‘thief’ confronts an angry shopkeeper who discovers $500 worth of clothes hidden in her bag, as she is accused of using her children as a diversion to rob the store
- Store worker confronts woman accused of stealing $500 worth of clothing
- The ‘thief’ did not deny it when confronted, but tried to blame her ‘baby’
- Meeting was broadcast live on Facebook by another client
An irate store worker confronted a woman he accused of stealing $500 worth of clothing with the awkward encounter broadcast on Facebook Live.
The suspected shoplifter was chased by Destani Fashion’s Marnie Ponting at Helensvale shopping center on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.
“Excuse me, those pants you have in your bag, you didn’t pay for them,” Ms. Ponting said as she took the clothes out of the woman’s bag at another store.
The woman accused of the robbery did not deny the accusation and instead blamed her son: ‘Oh, my baby, yes, my baby.’
Pictured is the moment store worker Marnie Ponting (right) ran into the suspected thief (left)
‘Not! Not your baby, you,” Ponting said as he removed item after item from the woman’s bag.
Ms Ponting said the alleged thief entered her shop and let her children run wild, possibly as a “distraction”.
“They were running around the store, throwing clothes, just making a mess of my store,” she said. 7News.
She said the accused thief packed his bag with clothes and went to a supermarket.
As Mrs. Ponting was confronting the alleged thief, the owner of a neighboring beauty salon, Sonny, ran to check out the clothing store.
Nurse Nicole Smith, who is a client of Destani Fashion, broadcast the whole thing live on Facebook.
‘What would you like to tell everyone for stealing?’ he asked the alleged thief.
‘And this is now going to be all over Facebook. It goes on Facebook live,’ she said.
Mrs. Ponting (who stands behind the woman in front) is pictured removing item after item from the alleged thief’s bag
Ms. Ponting (center) is shown talking to the suspected thief after retrieving $500 worth of clothing from his shopping bag, as another woman looks on, stunned by what is happening.
“When you steal from small businesses, you’re stealing from your neighbors,” said Ms. Smith.
On Facebook, he posted that the store has “great customer service and they are nice people.”
‘While there, this lady decided to steal hundreds of dollars worth of clothing. She didn’t even try to hide it. I took the fabrics off the hangers and went out.
We caught up with her in Coles. She didn’t deny that she hadn’t paid for her clothes, but she tried to blame her “baby” on her. Nasty.’
Store worker Marnie Ponting (pictured) said social media shaming is punishment enough for the suspected shoplifter and she won’t take the matter to the police.
Pictured is Destani Fashion at the Helensvale Shopping Center on the Gold Coast, from where a thief allegedly stole $500 worth of clothing.
Ms Ponting said her reason for confronting the alleged thief was simple: she wanted her clothes back.
‘We just got over the covid. It is a small family business. There are six of us here who depend on this business and this store for our jobs,” he said.
“We can’t afford to have someone come along and take $500 worth of stock.”
The dealer does not plan to take the matter to the police and insists that embarrassment on social media is punishment enough for the alleged thief.
“I highly doubt he’ll be back in our store anytime soon,” he said.