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Rapid guilty pleas from pharmacy robber
A 47-year-old man has admitted robbing one Christchurch pharmacy and using menaces to demand drugs at a second chemist shop.
Police found Richard Darcy Barton only about two blocks away from the shop he robbed, still carrying the knife and the drugs he took.
Only a week after being caught, the unemployed man pleaded guilty to both charges before Christchurch District Court Judge Gary MacAskill who remanded him in custody for sentence on October 25.
Judge MacAskill asked for a pre-sentence report but defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger said she did not believe a report on electronically monitored sentences such as home detention would be required.
The judge gave Barton a first strike warning under the three-strikes system for repeat violence offenders.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Glenn Pascoe said Barton, who is unemployed, went to a pharmacy in Selwyn Street, Addington, about 9am on August 31. He was wearing a dark hooded top with the hood up, sunglasses, and a surgical mask over his nose and mouth.
He said in a chair in front of the counter and when the pharmacist asked if he could help, Barton handed him a note saying he had a gun and a knife and wanted the drugs that were listed in in the note. The pharmacist told him to leave, and opened the door for him. Barton walked off.
At 11.25am, Barton went to a pharmacy in Lincoln Road where he placed a note in front of the pharmacist demanding drugs and cash. He followed the pharmacist into the dispensary and placed a large knife on the counter.
The pharmacist gave Barton a large amount of controlled drugs from the safe. Police found him nearby with the drugs and the knife.
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