Last December, hard-working shopkeeper Dogan Sahin was, as always, doing his best to serve the local community from his corner shop on the Blackstock Road in London’s Finsbury Park.
Come early last year, the 46-year-old had saved up enough money – somewhere in the region of GB pound 20,000 worth of life savings – to buy the Gonca general store thanks to over 20 years of hard work as a London taxi driver.
However, late on the evening of 21 December, two would-be robbers entered Mr Sahin’s store. They weren’t looking to do the weekly shop, though.
They weren’t alone, either, one of them toting a pretty large knife and the other a gun for good measure. In the blink of an eye, the latter was put to the head of Mr Sahin and money was demanded.
Resolve of the shopkeeper
As you can see from the CCTV footage reproduced below (which was first published in today’s London Evening Standard in a bid to catch the attackers), the duo hadn’t reckoned on Mr Sahin’s resolve.
The shopkeeper – presumably with adrenalin coursing through his veins – decided to take the fight to his assailants, and Sahin’s son Yilmaz also joined in with the defence of the property and its contents.
For his trouble 25-year-old Yilmaz was apparently pistol-whipped, while the attacker brandishing the knife continually tried to stab Mr Sahin.
The struggle continued into the street, but thankfully the two suspects eventually gave up and were forced to flee the scene empty-handed.
The police duly arrived on site after one of Mr Sahin’s shop assistants (who had been working at the Gonca store for only a couple of days) ran to the back of the shop while the altercation was taking place and promptly dialled 999.
Anyone with information on this incident is requested to contact the Metropolitan Police Service on (telephone) 020 8358 1751 or Crimestoppers (on 0800 555 111)
