$10k not enough for brazen bank robber
The note threatened the teller’s life and the lives of the bank customers if she didn’t do what the note requested.
A wig-wearing man who robbed a Hamilton bank pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery at the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday.
Nicholas Ramon Quaife, 28, stole $15,000 from ASB Bank at The Base Shopping Centre in March.
Quaife, dressed in a black wig and dark-rimmed glasses, and with a BB gun stuffed down the side of his pants, entered the bank on March 15, just after noon.
He advised the teller he had trouble speaking and then handed her a note, the court summary read.
The note threatened the teller’s life and the lives of the bank customers if she didn’t do what the note requested.
Quaife indicated he had a firearm and that he would use it.
He wanted a minimum of $10,000.
The teller then activated a silent alarm and put $10,000 in $100 notes in a marked ASB Bank bag. But it wasn’t enough.
Quaife indicated to the teller ‘‘15’’ and she understood that to mean he wanted more money.
She put a further $5000 in $100 notes in the bag and handed it back to Quaife.
The 28-year-old then left the bank and got into his own vehicle – a blue Chevrolet Blazer.
The vehicle’s registration was GEJ511, however, Quaife altered the plates to read GBU571, the summary read.
He also covered identifying stickers on the vehicle’s windscreen, the side panels and the rear window.
He then drove to his home in Te Awamutu. Quaife was arrested that evening and the money was recovered.
His lawyer Kerry Burroughs said yesterday that his client had undergone a psychiatric assessment and a doctor had deemed him fit to plea.
Judge Simon Menzies told Quaife, who appeared via AVL, that he would now be subject to the three strikes law.
Officially called the Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010, the three strikes law prohibits parole for offenders facing their second strike, and imposes the maximum sentence of imprisonment without parole for third strike offences unless the court considers it would be manifestly unjust.
Forty offences – including murder, manslaughter, sexual violation, abduction, kidnapping and aggravated robbery – count as a strike.
Quaife will be sentenced in June.