Two brothers jailed for armed robbery

Press, 19 December 1986, Page 7

Two brothers jailed for armed robbery

A young Timaru man winced and jerked his head when he was jailed for five years by Mr Justice Holland in the High Court yesterday for the armed hold-up of a service station.

The accused’s younger brother, who drove the getaway car, was jailed for two years. Robert John Condon, aged 22 (Mr Bruce Young), was jailed for five years and Raymond Ivan Condon, aged 19 (Mr Grant Proudfoot), for two years after they had pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery.

The police statement said that at 10.45 p.m. on Sunday, October 5, Michael John Thomson was alone at North Bound Motors, Ltd, in Timaru, cashing up takings.

A car entered the service area, and as he got up from the desk Mr Thomson was confronted at the doorway by Robert Condon, who had his head and face covered by a crocheted rug. He was holding the rug in place with one hand, and in the other he had an Apache knife with a 9cm blade extended and a white cotton bag. The intruder demanded money and waved the knife menacingly at Mr Thomson, who was ordered to put the money on the desk into the bag.

When he had done that, Robert Condon ripped the telephone off the wall.

The knife was waved in the direction of the floor safe in the reception area and Mr Thomson was told to take the money out. He took the lid off the safe, removed the cash and cheques and put them in the bag along with the other money. After snatching the bag, Robert Condon pushed Mr Thomson over, dashed to

a waiting car and was driven off at high speed by Raymond Condon, taking $9096 in cash and cheques. None of the money or cheques had been recovered.

On October 9 Raymond Condon went voluntarily to the Timaru Police Station and confessed to being involved in the robbery, the police statement said.

Mr Young said that there was only one person in the service station at the time so there was no danger to the public.

Mr Thomson was not injured, and Robert Condon had said that he would not have used the knife if there had been any resistance.

The whole incident had been a chapter of errors. Robert Condon had returned to the stolen car because he thought he had left his wallet there. The vehicle they were using ran out of petrol. His bungling showed that he was under the influence of drugs. Clearly Robert Condon had a drug problem which he wanted to overcome.

He had expressed remorse for involving his younger brother and accepted responsibility for his actions, said Mr Young.

Mr Proudfoot said that Raymond Condon had played a minor role in the robbery. He had been unemployed for the last three years and lacked diection in his life. He had too much time on his hands and had been associating with criminal types.

By following in his brother’s footsteps, Raymond Condon had got into trouble. He had been released from prison in July and at the time of the

offence was still on parole. Because of a misguided sense of loyalty he had driven the getaway car.

In January Raymond Condon had been jailed for 15 months on serious charges, one of which involved the attempt to set fire to a Timaru pizza parlour with a Molotov cocktail.

At present he was serving a two-month term on driving charges, Mr Proudfoot said. Mr Justice Holland said that it was to Robert Condon’s credit that he had accepted responsibility for leading his young brother into the crime. Robert Condon claimed that he would not have used the knife, but fortunately that had not been put to the test because the attendant had wisely decided to hand over the money.