ARMED robbery hero Ronald Gianoncelli says he would do the same again if it meant protecting his family.
The 45-year-old, who has been announced as the only Australian to receive the Star of Courage this year, was shot three times when he confronted a gunman to protect his wife Mary and sister Sonia at his former Koondoola newsagency in January 2004.
Mr Gianoncelli, the grandson of late Wanneroo Italian market gardening immigrants Ernesto and Luigia Rocca, said he had never been criticised by police or anyone for intervening to stop convicted robber Leon Sutcliffe who had threatened to shoot Sonia.
But he was disappointed to hear other shopkeepers criticised for not complying with a thief’s demands.
“I believe it is totally up to the individual person (how they react to a robbery) and for the politicians and cops to then back that position,” he said.
“It’s nothing to do with money, it’s the principle of the matter.”
Mr Gianoncelli said it was a privilege and honour to receive Australia’s second-highest bravery award.
He never lost any sleep over the shooting, though it was hard for his mother Fiorina and family who had to watch him recover from bullet wounds to his shoulder, lung, stomach and liver, and then relive the horror at times like this.
He fronted the Koondoola newsagency-post office by himself for about four years after the robbery before selling the newsagency and shifting the post office business to Alexander Heights, which he still runs with his wife and sister.
“Selling the newsagency had nothing to do with that (the robbery) – it involved long hours and I decided to start slowing down a bit,” he said.
He has had no end of congratulations on his bravery award – which he will officially receive at Government House in September – from old and new customers alike.
“It hasn’t stopped,” he said of the congratulatory messages.
“A lot of customers already knew (about the shooting before the award announcement) while others said they had heard about the robbery at the time but ‘we didn’t realise it was you’.”