Crown alleges pair planned to rob bank

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 19

Crown alleges pair planned to rob bank

A plan to rob a bank at gunpoint fell apart when a burglary to get weapons for the hold-up went wrong, the Crown alleged in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday. The Crown charges that Ricki Henry Conwell, aged 23, and Barry Alan Johansen, aged 20, conspired on January 25 to commit an aggravated robbery.

The men, both unemployed, have pleaded not guilty before Mr Justice Holland and a jury. Mr David Ruth appears for Johansen, and Mr Rupert Glover for Conwell. Mr Graham Panckhurst, in opening the Crown case, said the evidence would show Conwell and Johansen were close friends at the time of the alleged offence.

He alleged that on January 25 the pair were at a Hereford Street flat and in a bedroom had a conversation to which Natasha Irvine, who was friendly with Johansen, was a party.

In that discussion Conwell and Johansen al-

legedly spoke of an intention to rob a local bank.

“They spoke of the matter in some little detail, referring to exactly what the agreement was between them.”

Mr Panckhurst claimed the pair talked of getting firearms and “hotwiring” a car to use in the holdup.

“So far as the actual mechanics of the robbery were concerned, it was Conwell who would drive the vehicle and Johansen who would enter the bank,” he said. “The Crown says that it was not just idle chatter involving the two. “That same day, in the early afternoon, the two men left the address in Hereford Street intending to get possession of a firearm which the Crown says was for the purpose of the robbery.” The Crown alleges* the pair asked for a lift from a woman visiting the flat and she drove them in her distinctive yellow Mini to pick up another man in the Bealey Avenue area.

It is alleged they were

then driven to Kainga where they hoped to get firearms from a house.

“The Mini was parked a good distance from the house.

“Johansen left the vehicle and went off, obviously intending to break into the house, which at that stage was empty.”

Mr Panckhurst said a woman living at the address arrived home and disturbed Johansen who fled with two weapons he found inside. He allegedly hid them beneath bushes before returning to the Mini and being driven away. Mr Panckhurst said the woman, who saw the parked Mini as she drove home, telephoned the police. “As a result of that the Mini car was stopped as it was travelling away from Kainga, in Marshland Road. “Shortly afterwards the two weapons were recovered from toetoe bushes.” Conwell and Johansen were taken to the police station, spoken to by officers and arrested. (Proceeding)