Two men who drove a car through the front door of a Deer Park service station before stealing cash and cigarettes at knife point have been sentenced in the County Court.
Patrick Kon, 21, and an underage accomplice, pleaded guilty on October 31 to car theft and armed robbery.
The court heard Kon, his accomplice and two others drove to the Caltex Service Station on Mount Derrimut Road in a stolen car in the early hours of July 7. They forced their way inside by smashing the front window and driving the car through the front door.
The underage man was armed with a hammer and Kon carried a bedsheet, while a third man was armed with a machete. The fourth man stayed in the car.
The service station attendant fled to the rear storeroom, locked himself inside and called the police while the trio stole the cash register and filled the bedsheet with 137 packets of cigarettes.
The underage man tried to break down the storeroom door, before the men fled with $558 and cigarettes valued about $6000.
Kon and the underage man were arrested less than half an hour after the robbery. The court heard both men have prior convictions.
The underage man was sentenced to three years youth detention.
Kon was sentenced to two years and six months jail. He will serve at least 18 months before being eligible for parole.
Judge Paul Grant said he hoped Kon would turn away from crime following his time behind bars.
He said both men had fallen in with a bad crowd prior to their offending.
“It can only be hoped that you will start to think about your responsibility towards your family and make your responsibilities towards your family the focus of your future behaviour,” Judge Grant said.
“Like your co-offender, the explanation for the offending seems to be an inability to resist peer pressure.”
