The woman made an appointment to buy the eight-week-old puppy, the last of a litter of four, and arrived at the house in Perkins Avenue, Kellyville, in Sydney's north-west, at 11.30am. A man waited outside in a car with an obscured number plate. Police said the woman was seated in the lounge room and holding the puppy, named Diego, when she reached into a dog carry bag and pulled out a replica of a police-issue Glock pistol.
She said she was leaving without paying for the dog, advertised for $1500. "She said she didn't want anyone to get hurt, but we had all of our family from Newcastle there and there were kids around," Ms Johnson said. Ms Johnson's security-guard father Graham, 59, was sitting next to the woman and seized the gun, restraining her.
"If it wasn't serious it would be kind of laughable," Mr Johnson said, explaining that the woman seemed friendly and said she was an animal trainer from Zimbabwe. "I was asking her: 'What are you doing this for?' If someone is going to bring out a weapon, you think they are going to use it. I kept her talking until I got the opportunity to get the gun. There was no doubt in my mind that it was real."
Ms Johnson ran into the next room to get help from her brother Blake, an off-duty police officer from The Hills Local Area Command, who helped to restrain the woman. She said the woman started crying and became apologetic and remorseful, explaining she was dying of cancer and "needed love and had to have this dog", but had no money.
Police allege there was also a hunting knife in the woman's bag. She was charged with robbery while armed, carrying a knife in a public place and possession of a prohibited weapon. She will appear in Parramatta Local Court on October 15. Diego was not injured and is still for sale.
With news video.
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