Robbery ‘spur of the moment’
A man who robbed a dairy with what police thought was a replica pistol says the gun had been modified and tested on animals.
Brendan Mathew Neville Pickford made the admission while being interviewed for a report before his sentencing in the Palmerston North District Court on Thursday.
He was jailed for three years for aggravated robbery and driving while disqualified.
He had pleaded guilty to the charges after getting a sentence indication in June.
While four other people were in the car with Pickford when they parked outside the Kelvin Grove Mini Mart on August 19, police accept no-one but Pickford knew what was about to happen.
Pickford approached the counter and asked for items, including a 30-gram packet of tobacco.
He told the owner: ‘‘You know this is a robbery.’’
He grabbed the tobacco, pointing the pistol at the owner in the process, and went to leave.
But he changed his mind at the door, turning around and demanding money by saying ‘‘till money’’.
The owner was too nervous to get the till open, so Pickford stole a packet of chewing gum as he left.
He was arrested later that day in central Palmerston North.
According to her sentence indication notes, made available to the Manawatu Standard, Judge Stephanie Edwards said Pickford described the offending to police as ‘‘a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing’’.
Crown prosecutor Karl van der Plas said Pickford’s revelation about the pistol may have been important if it had been known at the time of his sentence indication.
Defence lawyer Paul Murray said Pickford was remorseful and showed insight into his offending.
He had been ‘‘remarkably frank’’ with police as soon as he was arrested.
‘‘The entire approach he has taken has been somewhat extraordinary, in the sense that he has done a mindless and senseless thing, but realised that almost immediately and has taken responsibility straight away.’’
Pickford was also ordered to pay $53 in reparation and disqualified from driving for a year.
The judge ordered the pistol’s destruction.