Jail for Macca’s knife holdup

AN “embarrassed” man who held up Moonah McDonald’s with a 30cm knife, claiming God wanted to “cremate him and resurrect him” for not studying the Bible, will spend at least 18 months behind bars.

During the evening of January 5, Timo Murto entered the fast-food premises, placing the knife blade to the skin of a 17year-old worker, demanding she open the safe.

The 49-year-old Claremont man yelled out that no one should be “heroes” or they could get hurt.

The attack took place after Murto was caught by his mother with a pornographic magazine.

Feeling “intense guilt and embarrassment”, he decided to commit a crime to return to prison, Supreme Court Chief Justice Alan Blow said this week.

During the holdup the manager took Murto to the restaurant’s safe and keyed in a code, explaining it wouldn’t open for three minutes due to a time delay.

A furious Murto then demanded the manager open the cash registers before stashing cash in his backpack.

Murto threatened to stab the manager, who had difficulty opening a second register, before police arrived.

One officer drew his firearm and Murto dropped the knife.

Murto has been taking schizophrenia medication since 2000, but his dose was reduced last year because of “perceived side effects”.

But Chief Justice Blow said the crime occurred because of Murto’s embarrassment, not because of “hallucinations or delusions”.

“He told the police that he committed this crime because God had threatened to cremate him and resurrect him as a result of not studying the Bible,” he said while sentencing Murto.

“He committed the robbery as part of a strategy to deal with his embarrassment in relation to his mother, rather than because of hallucinations or delusions.”

However, Chief Justice Blow noted a psychiatrist’s report that being in custody reinforced Murto’s delusions of being persecuted by God.

He jailed Murto for three years as of January 5, deeming the robber eligible for parole after serving 18 months, after which he will be released on a supervision order to live with his mother.