Young robber sent to jail

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 12

Young robber sent to jail

Sadly, there were cases all over New Zealand in which youths committed robberies to repay drug debts, said Mr Justice Holland in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday when he sentenced a youth, ■aged 18, to a total of three year and a half in prison. The major sentence of three years’ jail was imposed on Shane Matthew Brown, unemployed for the aggravated robbery when armed with a toy pistol last July 16 of the postmistress of the Sanson Post Office, near Bulls. He was convicted and discharged for unlawfully taking a motor-cycle in Palmerston North several days before the robbery. On a charge of burglary of a house in Christchurch on January 8, the accused received a six month prison sentence and he was jailed for three months for the theft of a 10-speed bicycle in Christchurch between November 14 and December 15. These sentences are concurrent, but cumulative on the sentence on the robbery charge. The accused had pleaded guilty to the offences at earlier appearances in the District Court in Christchurch, and had been committed to the High Court for sentence. The police statement in the District Court had been that the accused burst into the sole-charge Post Office and demanded money from the postmistress, Frances Helen Airth, aged 62. He waved a toy pistol at her and demanded that she open the safe and crawl across the floor to the safe so that she would not be seen through a window. The postmistress screamed and the accused fled empty-handed on a converted motor-cycle towards Feilding. The woman suffered bruising but the accused said on his apprehension that he had accidentally hit her.

His Honour said he accepted that the accused had not deliberately hit the postmistress when he entered

the Post Office. However, it was his duty to the community to impose an exemplary sentence, and the offence carried imprisonment for up to eight years. He said the brandishing of the pistol would have been a frightening experience for the postmistress, who did not know whether it was real or a toy, or whether the accused meant to cause her harm or not. His Honour said the accused had had a good upbringing and he had some confidence he would come out of prison and be a good citizen. Defence counsel, Miss E. H. B. Thompson, had sought a prison sentence of under a year and submitted that the accused's offending was attributable to drug addiction and peer pressure. He had committed the robbery because two local “heavies” wanted repayment for drugs he had taken.