By Jack Thomson

A SHOPKEEPER feared for his life as he was beaten on the head with a hammer and robbed by three masked men.

Umakanthan Kandasamy, 42, was cornered by thugs in his Yoker U Save store at around 9pm last Thursday, before being told, “if you move you will die”.

The Knightswood man tried to calmly walk to the exit before he was wrestled to the floor and bashed over the head with the hammer. The thieves then raided the shelves for alcohol, forced open the till and stole around £500 in cash.

But the brave dad-of-two was back behind the shop counter the following day.

He told our sister title the Clydebank Post : “They were fully masked and covered in black. I was fixing the stock and they just entered normally and then they cornered me. I realised something was wrong.

“The guy with the hammer ran around me so I tried to go outside and then another guy pushed me and didn’t allow me go outside.

“I tried to walk outside and he [the man with the hammer] was behind me. He grabbed me and pushed me on the floor. He then punched me on the head with the hammer.

“He ordered the other guys to grab everything. I just tried to protect the back of my head. If he hit that I think I would’ve died.”

Umakanthan managed to catch the thugs off guard and press the panic button, forcing them to flee. But the shopkeeper gave chase and managed to grab one of the men before he made off.

The shopkeeper, who has owned the business for six months, was assisted by neighbours, who checked he was OK and phoned the police.
He was then taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital before being released.

Umakanthan has a young family and said he had no option but to reopen the store at 1929 Dumbarton Road the next day.

“We are running a business,” he said. “We need to pay rent. My head is still in a bit of pain. I couldn’t sleep for two or three days because of the pain.”

Umakanthan now has additional security measures in place following the attack.

Detectives are appealing for information on the raid and are in the process of checking CCTV footage from in and around the area, as well as carrying out door-to-door enquiries.

Detective Constable James McLelland said: “This store is well used by the local community and I am appealing to people who live in the area to think back and consider if they saw anything suspicious.

“Did you see three men hanging around outside the store? Did you see three men running off?”

Contact police on 101 with information or call Crimestoppers.