SUPREME COURT Man charged with armed robbery of Post Office

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34099, 11 March 1976, Page 9

SUPREME COURT Man charged with armed robbery of Post Office

A man wearing a stocking over his face with slits for eyeholes leapt on to the counter of the Spreydon Post Office, waved a pistol about and shouted: “This is for real.” Mr Justice Somers and a jury were told in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Mr N. W. Williamson appears for the Crown and Mr T. M. Abbott and Miss M. R. A. Hills for the accused, who has pleaded i.ot guilty. Opening his case Mr Williamson said that about 4.20 p.m. on September 30, a man went into the Spreydon Post Office with a stocking over his head. He was wav-

mg a pistol about and tnreatened the staff and told them that the gun was real.

The man demanded money and leapt the counter and | took a total of $BO7 from i two drawers. Then he told I the staff and one customer |to remain where they were land not to move for some j minutes after he left. He ran lout of the Post Office and down Selwyn Street. I On October 9, the accused ! was arrested in Sydney and ■ was charged with robbery, Mr Williamson said. Janice Ola Falconer, a senior Post Office clerk, said that in September last year she was working at the Spreydon Post Office. She was standing at the counter facing the public area and was talking tc Mrs Collins as there were no customers.

“The door opened and a man ran in and leapt on top of the counter. He shouted:

‘This is for real’. The Postmaster and another teller came from the back.

"The man was wearing a stocking over his face with slits for eyes. It was not : pulled very tightly and did not distort his features in! any way. He was also hold- ■ ing what looked like a pistol! in his right hand,” said the: witness. Shown a Japanese replica pistol, Mrs Falconer said that it looked like the one the man had. When a customer came in, the man jumped down off' the counter beside her and told her to move. He swore at her to show that he meant it. She moved down the far end beside Mrs Collins.

The man opened the cash drawers. The first one onlycontained postal notes. He opened two other drawers and grabbed the money out

of them. The man put the money in. a large paper shopping bag with a string handle, similar to the ones obtainable in most department stores. As the man was leaving he moved past the Post- ! master and he swore at him : and told him not to move as the gun was real and he! would use it. Mrs Falconer identified ac- i cused as the man who had; i robbed the Post Office of $BO7. ! Lynne Marie Newton, a ! senior clerk, said that she !was speaking to the Post- | master when she heard one |of the girls scream. She irushed outside and saw a I man crouched on the counter flap. Before he left ithe man ordered them not to (move. She identified accused las the man. I The trial will finish today.