A homeless man who robbed a Hobart service station of its cash register containing just under $400 has been jailed for 22 months.
Mitchell Keith Gittus-Brown, 32, was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Tasmania by Acting Justice Paul Slattery on September 30.
The court heard Gittus-Brown walked into the Ampol service station in New Town at 5:50am on July 28, pulled a crowbar from his bag and pointed it towards the worker behind the counter.
He demanded all the cigarettes in the store. The worker said he needed a key from the back, then ran across the road and called police.
In a victim impact statement, the worker said he now panics when customers approach the counter and is looking for another job.
He also no longer feels safe in public places, even at the park with his family.
The court heard Gittus-Brown took some food before pulling the register, containing $387.15, off the counter and putting it in his bag.
He then changed his clothes at the Friends School oval, where he had been sleeping, before police found him running across the Brooker Highway.
At the time, he was wearing boots and clothes worth $218 that he had stolen from Kmart New Town the day before.
Gittus-Brown told police he had nowhere to live after leaving custody three months earlier and was cold and tired.
Acting Justice Slattery said Gittus-Brown had “created a life-threatening situation” and rejected his claim that he did not see the crowbar as a threat.
He said the robbery had taken a heavy toll on the worker.
“This event has had an extraordinary adverse effect upon his life, upon his capacity to work, upon his enjoyment of life, upon his family relationships and all of these effects will be long lasting,” the judge said.
“[The worker] will carry the burden of your crime for a long time.”
Acting Justice Slattery said service station staff were particularly vulnerable.
“Shop keepers and assistants in these stores that open for such long hours are very exposed because of their isolation at various times of the day,” he said.
“They are very prone to attacks of the nature you made.”
The offences breached a four-month suspended sentence imposed in February, which Acting Justice Slattery ordered Gittus-Brown to serve.
The 20-month sentence for the robbery and theft was reduced by 10% to 18 months for his early guilty plea.
With the four-month suspended sentence added, he will serve 22 months in total, backdated to July 28. He will be eligible for parole after 11 months.
Gittus-Brown was also ordered to pay $387.15 to Ampol.
