It was just before lunch yesterday that the incident occurred and as a large crowd gathered many were heard saying that the two women had indeed shoplifted a few items from New Age Trading Company located on Wellington Street next door to CNS Channel 6 and opposite Payless Variety Store.
The dispute grabbed the attention of shoppers and passersby as the Chinese women, struggling to speak English, walked alongside a woman pointing at her bag and accusing her of having a stolen item in it. The woman was heard urging the storeowner to stop following her.
As she continued walking away, the storeowner grabbed at the woman and her bag and a scuffle broke out between them. The female storeowner put a few kicks in the accused shoplifter and received a few slaps in return. Onlookers then parted them and urged the accused shoplifter to go her way before the police picked her up.
Holding on to her ear in pain, the determined storeowner walked back to the store where another accused shoplifter was being arrested by police who were on patrol and had stopped. The angry storeowner grabbed the woman, tearing her clothes even though the police tried to stop her. A male Chinese shouted at the police officer who was fully dressed with a black helmet, to leave the store and leave his wife alone. The policeman stood motionless for a few seconds, seemingly lost at what was occurring. However, he told the storeowner to go into the police vehicle along with the woman she had assaulted.
While some onlookers laughed at the incident, others insisted that the Chinese storeowner had no right to assault the woman, even if she was a shoplifter.
An eyewitness who was in the store at the time told Stabroek News that the women were caught red-handed stealing items from the store and when accosted by the storeowner became very defensive. When the storeowner raised an alarm, the women became angry, the eyewitness said.
In less than an hour the store reopened and it was business as usual.
