Brave Davina Gindha refused to bow to the crook’s demands for cash but he grabbed a bottle of the tonic wine and made his escape.

The robbery happened during Gindha’s 11-hour shift at the St Mirren Convenience Store, in Paisley’s Love Street, just before Christmas last year.

Speaking of the December 17th raid, Ghinda said she was working in the shop with pal Ting Fung Tung when the robber came in.

She explained: “I saw a boy walking in, he walked down to the till and I didn’t think anything of it.

“I looked at him and I saw he had something in his hand – it appeared to be a knife.

“He said, ‘Gimme your money from the till!’ I was shocked. I stood and froze.” Gindha refused to hand over the money, telling the court that she pressed a panic button and that the man – who she said looked about 19 or 20 years old – grabbed a bottle of Bucky and ran off.

The 30-year-old said: “He repeated, ‘Gimme the money from your till.’ “I backed off and said, ‘no’. He was aiming the knife in my direction. He was pointing it to me.

“I backed away from him and moved towards the panic alarm.

“My friend was working too and she came round to see.

“He turned round and pointed the knife at her.

“Then he went behind the till, he ripped the counter off its hinges to get behind the till.

“He grabbed a bottle of Buckfast, took that and ran off.” Gindha’s friend, Ting Tung, told the court that she has had nightmares about the events of that day.

She broke down in tears as she explained: “That guy attacked us with a knife – that’s never happened to me before.” The police were called and Gindha, who is a sales manager in the store, was able to give the officers, who arrived within five minutes, a description of the robber.

Officers dusted for prints while others hunted for the robber – a young man with a black hooded top or jacket and blue tracksuit trousers.

The person Gindha and Tung said was responsible was youngster Patrick Goddard, who turns 17 this Saturday.

The 16-year-old was arrested just a few streets away from the scene of the crime.

He matched the description given by Gindha and Tung, was carrying a bottle of Buckfast and a kitchen knife was found tucked into the waistband of his tracksuit trousers. The court heard he told officers that he had bought the knife off a pal just a few minutes before and blamed the robbery on his unnamed friend. On Monday a jury cleared him of the robbery but found him guilty of carrying a knife and resisting police officers.

Goddard, of Port Glasgow, will be sentenced next month.