It is the third time the Ashmont newsagency owner has felt the brunt of the city's high crime rates and said he now fears for his own life as he opens his shop each day.

"I'm still scared, because it could happen at any time again,” he said with tears in his eyes.

"I feel like I shouldn't come to work for my own safety, but I have to because it's my bread and butter and it's what supports my family.”

Unfortunately, Mr Rawal’s traumatic crime experience is not uncommon in Wagga, with the city ranked as the 6^th biggest crime hotspot in NSW, behind postcodes including Mount Druitt, Campbelltown and Blacktown.

The city recorded the highest number of house break-ins in the state, with a staggering 660 incidents.

At 6am on Sunday morning Mr Rawal was opening the main gates of the Ashmont mall when two masked teenagers ran towards him, yelling at him to drop his wallet, keys and money.

Terrified, Mr Rawal ran from the men and dropped the shop keys on the ground before he tripped and went sliding across the gravel, suffering painful bruising and serious grazes to his face, hands and knees. 

The incident follows two earlier encounters with crime, with Mr Rawal’s phone being stolen from the shop and his car being broken into in the mall car park just a few months ago.

Mr Rawal said he could not stand the constant fear hanging over him and will consider giving up the business as a result.

"If these things keep happening I will give up the business, because I can't keep risking my life,” he said.

“This time I was lucky, but maybe next time they might have knives and weapons and I could be killed.

“Who would look after my wife and son if that happened? I need to think about protecting my family.”

Mr Rawal agreed with the city’s high crime ranking, saying when he moved to the city seven years ago he felt safe, but now he feels differently. 

“In the last 12 months the crime has definitely skyrocketed," he said.

"It used to feel like the safest place for me and my family, but now I have customers coming in every day who tell me they are victims of attacks, thefts and burglaries."