A man who was involved in stealing $10,000 worth of cigarettes and cash from a Tolland service station has been jailed.
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Mark Thomas Burnett, 28, of Coniston NSW, was jailed for four years and six months with a non-parole period of three years.
Burnett, who had pleaded guilty to robbery in company, appeared in Wagga District Court on Friday for sentencing.
The incident happened about 3.30am on February 28, 2018 where Burnett and two others stormed the Shell service station on Bourke Street.
One of the other two involved has not been identified while the other has pleaded not guilty.
Wearing a full-face plastic mask and a hooded camouflage jacket, Burnett approached the cashier, punched him in the head, and demanded access to the cash register.
Burnett was carrying a long sock with heavy items in it, while his unknown co-offender was armed with a samurai-style sword.
After the cashier handed over the cash tray, Burnett’s co-offender told him to get a rubbish bag and fill it with cigarettes.
CCTV footage of the incident then showed Burnett pacing around the store before returning to the counter and striking the cashier in the head with his weighted sock.
The two offenders then fled the scene, but Burnett was later apprehended after a DNA swab taken from the cash tray matched his profile.
Police later discovered the pair had escaped with $1498.05 in cash and 456 packets of smokes worth more than $10,000.
The cashier suffered a laceration on his forehead that caused bleeding.
'No causal connection': judge
Defence lawyer Nico Rump did not speak in court on Friday and Burnett was also not called into the witness box.
Written submissions in defence of Burnett included the early guilty plea and psychological issues, including bipolar and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Crown prosecutor Lisa Hanshaw spoke about Burnett’s criminal record, the aggravating nature of the offence and the lack of remorse.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Gordon Lerve said that while there was a possibility of Burnett having ADHD and bipolar based on the psychological report, it was “a bland statement of a diagnosis with nothing more”.
“There is nothing that approaches an opinion of a causal connection between those issues and the offending,” Judge Lerve said.
The judge also said the court did not find remorse from the offender.
“The court could not find on balance that there are good prospects of rehabilitation nor could the court find the offender’s unlikely to re-offend,” he said.
Judge Lerve, however, acknowledged the pre-sentence report’s indication that Burnett needed an “ongoing comprehensive rehabilitation program”.
Burnett will be eligible for parole in March 2021.
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