Pub cleaner bashed and slashed in attempted robbery

An attempted robbery has resulted in a cleaner at a Gold Coast pub being bashed and having his throat cut.

Video footage shows a group of armed men breaking into the Gem Hotel on the Stapylton Jacobs Well Rd in Alberton.

The men who were covered in hoodies and masks, fled the scene after ten minutes having realised there was no cash on the premises.

While poker machines were damaged, it was the worker who was left battered, bruised, cut and shaken after he was attacked by four men armed carrying a machete, axe, baseball bat and gardening shears.

The incident occurred at 3am on Saturday morning.

The 36-year-old cleaner was taken to the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital in a stable condition with cuts to his throat and head wounds.

“Physically he is okay,” hotel manager Clinton Hicks s said. “He is very shaken up though.

“As a business we only worry about the safety of our people. We can always fix a broken door; we can fix that kind of damage. We can’t fix injuries to a head.”

Three men broke in, while one waited in a getaway car.

“It was four males. Big guys,” Hicks said. “They had hoodies, masks and woollen gloves on.

“One had a tomahawk, one had a baseball bat, and then one had a machete.”

Two poker machines were opened up with the weapons.

“They hit one of my screens using the baseball bat and then they used the hatchet,” he said.

“I think they realised it was too late, was taking too long and they got nothing out of it so they took off.

“It was all over in about five to ten minutes.”

Police are now trying to track a gold-coloured Toyota Camry sedan with the false number plates ‘BIG RIG’. It is the same car involved in an earlier service station robbery on Queen Street in Wallon, Ipswich.

Witnesses to the pub break-in are urged to come forward.

The injured man was back at work the next day and was praised for his bravery and dedication.

“It’s sad that people have to do that these days. There’s no need for it,” Hicks said.

“There’s no value in the business at that time of night.”

Anyone with information should call police at 131444.

Irit Jackson - 17th October 2022