A high court judge has praised the bravery of Nisa store staff in Dunfermline moments after watching a video of them disarming an armed robber.
Lord Scott made the comments after seeing footage of a man identified as Robert Danskin’s failed bid to rob the Nisa store on Abbey View in June. The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the 36-year-old man walked into the shop wearing a balaclava and brandishing a weapon described in court by prosecutor Anna Chisholm as a “realistic” imitation gun.
Danskin demanded staff member Cheryl Gourlay fill a bag with money before jumping over a counter and assaulting her by seizing her body. But brave Cheryl put herself in front of the till and refused to comply with his requests.
She then shouted to her colleagues who came rushing to her help. Court staff then played the minute long incident which had been captured on CCTV cameras. Lord Scott saw colleagues run over to the counter - one staff member wrestled the pistol out of Danskin’s hand whilst punching him.
His colleagues pulled his balaclava off his head, wrestled him to the ground and restrained him there until the police arrived to arrest him. The court heard that Danskin had a conviction for a similar offence in 2007. This prompted Lord Scott to defer sentence.
He said: “I am inclined to call for reports. Notwithstanding the real bravery of a number of individuals who intervened, this must have been a terrifying incident in which no one other than the accused was aware that this wasn’t a real firearm.”
Later, members of the community in Dunfermline launched a fundraiser to thank the post office staff for putting “their lives at risk” to disarm the robber and “save” shoppers.