An 18-year-old man was left with a sore shoulder and face after an attempted robbery at Wilberforce shops on King Road on Tuesday evening.
Inspector Peter Jenkins of Hawkesbury Police said the man was sitting in his white HiLux ute at the shops at 6.25pm when a man he described as being 17-25 with a white hoodie, black track pants and a balaclava got into the car and demanded his wallet.
In footage recorded by TNV Webcam, the 18-year-old said when he refused, the man punched him in the face and pulled a knife which Insp. Jenkins said was a Swiss army knife. The offender also shone a light into his face.
The 18-year-old man said he “panicked and hit the throttle”. Insp. Jenkins said the car accelerated, narrowly missing two trees, and rolled on the driver’s side.
The offender managed to climb up out of the vehicle and ran off on King Road. The 18-year-old man also got out.
Insp. Jenkins said a phone and torch believed to belong to the offender were recovered from the vehicle, which was impounded for forensic investigation. The phone and torch will also be forensically examined.
At this point the offender has not been caught. “A dog got a track at the time but the number of witnesses at the scene destroyed the track,” Insp. Jenkins said.
“The victim and witnesses will be re-interviewed this morning.”