Armed robber admits Sideline bar heist
Dallas Edwards has admitted that he was one of the masked and armed men who robbed the Sideline Bar in Richmond of $4545.
He has written to the sentencing judge, Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar, expressing his remorse for the November 2012 robbery.
The letter made no difference at his sentencing where the judge jailed him for six years nine months after a jury found him guilty at the end of a five-day trial.
Defence counsel Lee Lee Heah said 25-year-old Edwards was not expecting any “discount” at this late stage for his admission of guilt. “He wants to express his remorse,” she told the court.
Crown prosecutor Sara Jamieson said Edwards had now admitted his offending “and yet went to trial regardless”.
Judge Kellar said he would take the letter as being sincere. “I hope it is. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life in prison because you have too many things to lead a positive life for.”
Edwards was found guilty by the jury after it heard evidence of his palm print on the wall that the robbers climbed and his free-spending afterwards with lots of coins that could have been the bar’s takings from poker machines.
The Crown had charged a second man, 23-year-old Jackson Manson, but he was found not guilty at the trial.
The judge said the robbery had been well organised, with an element of planning and premeditation, including putting false number plates on the getaway car. One of the plates fell off at the scene.
It would have been particularly fearful for the staff and patrons to see people brandishing weapons in the bar, he said.
A 19-year-old woman who was working behind the bar at the time of the robbery told of having a gun pointed at her. “This would have to be the most terrifying moment of my life,” she said in her victim impact statement.
The other victims were the owners of the hotel. They told of long hours of work at the hotel, and the loss of their new duty manager because of the armed robbery. They said they had owned the hotel for 11 months, and it had just begun to make a small profit at the time of the robbery.
“That was taken away by other people’s selfish and greedy needs,” they said.
Judge Kellar said Edwards was seen as a high risk of reoffending. He had previous convictions for burglary, unlawfully interfering with cars, theft, receiving stolen property, breaching court sentences, and some assaults.
The pre-sentence report indicated a severe and harmful gambling issue for which would require rehabilitation. It may have been the motivation for the robbery.
He increased the robbery sentence because of his record, and made no reduction for his late admission of guilt. He imposed no reparation order.
Category: Focus
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Connect
Connect with us via: