A Turkish-Dutch woman, Latife Peker, drove a robber away with only a tea towel and cleaning spray from a bakery.
The incident occurred in Mevlana Bakery in the Netherlands' Deventer on Tuesday. When Latife Peker was behind the counter at her son's bakery, someone with a hoodie approached the cash register. Upon realizing what was happening, Peker started hitting the robber with cleaning products. Taken aback, the robber had to flee when a customer also entered the bakery.
Those moments were caught by the surveillance footage, currently going viral, showing a robber with a knife entering the bakery around 7 a.m. and storming directly at the cash register. The robber tried to scare 47-year-old Latife off, but she grabbed her tea towel and cleaning bottle and started beating him. A few seconds later, a customer enters the bakery and kicks him out.
A day later, Latife is still recovering from the shock and explains how she tried to chase the robber away in hand gestures.
"Someone headed for the cash till. I had a cleaning towel and cleaning spray. When I lunged him with the towel, we started scuffling. At that moment, a customer came in and the thief started running. It happened suddenly. I did not even realize that he had a chopping knife. The death never crossed my mind," Peker was quoted saying by Dutch media outlets.
Her son Yasir, co-owner, was not in the bakery at the time of the robbery. However, the customer, who kicked the robber out, took care of Latife until her family arrived. “He is the real hero. That man even wanted to pay for his order, but we did not take it and said thank you. Unfortunately, we have no idea who he is. We hope that we can still get in touch with him,” Yasir was quoted by media outlets.
Yasir runs the bakery with his cousin, who normally stands behind the counter. He was not there at that time because he was on vacation, so Latife was working temporarily in the bakery. Fortunately for the family, it ended with a sizzle. Both Latife and the customer are unharmed and nothing has been taken. Yasir said, "We just started the day, so we had no turnover yet.”
Peker is dubbed as a "brave mother" in the country. Throughout the day, customers came in to show support for Latife. “Even the Turkish consulate called. They also saw the images on the internet. They thought my mother is a very strong woman,” Yasir said.
