A Sydney Anglican has survived a hold-up in a north shore hotel over the weekend.
Beth Manchester, daughter of the rector of St Thomas', North Sydney, the Rev Simon Manchester, was out with a friend at the Freeway Hotel, Artarmon on Friday night when three men wearing balaclavas and holding guns ran in demanding patrons get down on the floor.
Miss Manchester, 23, says she was holding her mobile phone at the time, which prompted one of the robbers to confront her.
"I was on the floor holding my phone in my hand. One of the robbers saw this so he came over and yelled at me and put his gun in my face so I threw the phone across the floor away from me to prove I was not making a call," Miss Manchester says.
During the incident, which occurred around 12:30 Saturday morning, Miss Manchester says one man jumped over the counter to remove money from the cash register.
Another man threatened a man in the back of the hotel forcing them to hand over the money from the safe.
Police told Miss Manchester around $40,000 was stolen from the safe.
Miss Manchester says the whole ordeal lasted around 10 minutes, during which time both she and her friend were face down praying.
"After we got up I asked my friend Gavin if he was praying. He said he was praying and I said I was praying," she says.
"We both prayed for the whole 10 minutes, so it was all about God at that point."
Miss Manchester says one of the robbers had a radio tuned to the police frequency and so the trio was able to escape one minute before the police arrived.
Police required all patrons present to stay at the scene long after the incident to answer questions and give unofficial statements.
Manchester moves on
Miss Manchester, who is a youth group leader at St Thomas', was driving down to the South Coast yesterday to lead on a youth group camp with members from her church this week.
"I'm feeling better today. But I didn't get much sleep Friday night. Saturday was quite a bad day as I was reliving the incident a lot in my mind," she says.
"I was feeling quite exhausted. I would keep seeing the three guys running into the hotel and telling me to get on the ground. After that it gets blurry."
However, Miss Manchester says she is feeling better as each day passes.
"I have slept a bit better since then. Leading the youth camp this week will be a good distraction from what's happened."
