By Brendan Rees
A grandfather’s faith in humanity has been restored after a kind-hearted stranger paid for his groceries at a Berwick supermarket.
Sumuel Biram, 64, was standing behind a man at the checkout of Coles Parkhill Junction when the man handed the cashier a $100 note to cover Mr Biram’s shopping on Saturday 6 June about 9am.
His daughter Jess Allen said the man told her father “this is a gift for you”.
Ms Allen said there had been no prompting or reason for the man paying for her dad’s shopping.
“He said this man was standing there watching him as his shopping was getting put through and handed over a $100 note to the lady.
“My dad said ‘no, don’t worry about paying.’ He said: ‘no it’s not my money; this is for you’.
Ms Allen said as the man had been watching her dad’s items being scanned he “didn’t say any words or anything”.
The pair also hadn’t greeted or spoken to one another while walking around the supermarket.
“This guy just appeared randomly,” Ms Allen said, whom she described of Samoan or Maori appearance and aged in his 60s or 70s.
Mr Biram was heartened by the act, teling his daughter: “The girl and me had tears and she told me he must be an angel.”
A shocked Mr Biram, whose shopping totalled $70, tried to find the stranger to hand him the change, but he had gone.
“He didn’t get to say thank you or anything,” Ms Allen said.
Mr Biram, who was mourning the death of his wife who died the following day due to ill-health, was “really touched that someone went out of their way”.
“He was really so shocked that somebody would do that,” Ms Allen said, adding it “really gave him that hope in humanity that there really are some good people out there.”
Mr Biram described the man as “really warm” and “really made him feel at ease”.
“My dad wanted to find this person to say thank you and to let him know with such a bad time in his life.”
