No jail for legless robber

A 24-YEAR-OLD woman, who robbed a double amputee in Darwin’s CBD, pushing him from his wheelchair and leaving him lying on the street, has walked free.

Angela Wood, 24, was handed a suspended jail sentence of 13 months in the Supreme Court for robbing a man with two amputated legs on October 11, 2018.

The court heard Wood attacked the disabled man as he was wheeling down the footpath outside the Woolworths Shopping Centre holding some groceries.

While he was waiting to cross the street, Wood walked up behind him and lunged for his belongings, In the ensuing struggle, the wheelchair was pushed over and the victim was thrown on to the bitumen.

He suffered cuts and abrasions to his arm and elbows.

After the elderly man had fallen, Wood and another woman took two casks of wine, two bottles of Gatorade, a packet of tobacco and $80 cash from him. The women ran away to the Tomaris Court flats, where they started drinking with two other friends.

The matter was reported to the police and about an hour later, Wood was located and arrested.

The court heard the 24year-old had recently been convicted for trespass and stealing for the role she played in an incident in July, where a group of wannabe amateur butchers hacked off the leg of a live cow in a cattleyard outside Darwin.

Chief Justice Michael Grant released Wood on a suspended sentence, on the condition that she complete a three-month rehabilitation program at the Sunrise Centre.

“Despite your criminal record and your present age, I consider that you are still entitled to the leniency that would be afforded to a youthful offender with no prior history of violent offending or offences of dishonesty,” he said.

“... I really want you to finish this rehabilitation program at Sunrise. When you finish that program, you need to go somewhere – either Croker or Daly – where you are not going to drink.”