Robber’s girl, 6, was ‘lookout’

A CONVICTED armed robber with a “disturbing” past has been granted parole after pleading guilty to robbing a Townsville pharmacy.

Joshua Thomas William Watson walked into the Chemmart Pharmacy at Belgian Gardens on March 9 last year holding a tomahawk concealed in a shopping bag.

He demanded the two young female staff empty the controlled drugs locked in a safe into a sack.

Watson, 38, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and common assault in the Townsville Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The court heard the father-ofone had a desire to return to prison and wanted to be caught by police.

In 2017, Watson was jailed for three years after he took his sixyear-old daughter with him as a “lookout” while he attempted to rob a pharmacy in Tin Can Bay.

Crown Prosecutor Siobhan Harrison said that at 8am on March 9, 2020, Watson entered the Belgian Gardens pharmacy after waiting for two elderly customers to leave.

He approached the front counter holding a rolled up grey sack and a green bag which a tomahawk was concealed in.

The court heard Watson placed the grey sack on the counter and instructed a 23-year-old female attendant to fill the bag with the controlled drugs in the safe.

Ms Harrison said Watson threatened to hurt the woman if she did not comply with his demands.

Watson approached a second female assistant, aged 19, and “struggled with her” for her phone before she “realised it was a robbery and let the phone go”.

He then told the two women he was out of time and took the bag before he returned to his vehicle and drove away.

When police intercepted him two hours later he made “full and frank admissions” to the offending and told police where he had thrown out the bag containing the stolen drugs.

He was arrested and served 429 days presentence custody before appearing in court.

Watson’s barrister, Kelly Stone said his client was travelling from Innisfail to the Gold Coast when he committed the offence.

Mr Stone said Watson was unemployed, had no money and had not been in contact with or known the whereabouts of his daughter since going into prison.

“His drug of choice at the point of the offending was cocaine or LSD,” Mr Stone said.

Judge Gregory Lynham said Watson’s offending reflected a “desire” to go back into jail.

“If he was trying to avoid detection he went about it in a completely wrong way,” Mr Lynham said.

For armed robbery, Watson was sentenced to four years imprisonment and a further six months imprisonment for common assault, to be served concurrently.

A total of 429 days presentence custody was declared and Watson was granted parole from May 12, 2021.

Convictions were recorded.