A man has been jailed for two years for the armed robbery of an Echuca service station in June.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Lyndon Lamb, 33, was sentenced in the County Court on Tuesday.
The court heard Lamb had been drinking at home in Echuca on June 19 when he ran out of beer.
Lamb had no money to buy more alcohol so he decided to rob a nearby Shell service station armed with a knife.
He demanded money from a female attendant, threatening her with the carving knife, and left the shop with $110.
Lamb’s lawyer Stephen Payne said his client’s alcoholism lay at the heart of his offending.
Mr Payne said Lamb had lost his licence for drink driving and been unemployed for several months as a result.
The court heard Lamb now lived in Torquay and was keen to start afresh.
Both Mr Payne and crown prosecutor Peter Jones submitted Lamb be considered for a community corrections order given he had already served three months in remand But Judge Jane Patrick said that would be totally inappropriate.
“Law and justice have to be applied,” she said. “It would be entirely inconsistent for me to impose a CCO on Mr Lamb.
“A sentence of imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence. Armed robbery is a serious offence; the maximum penalty of 25 years shows this.”
Judge Patrick said Lamb’s offending was a “desperate and erratic act” on “soft targets”. “The victim impact statements describe in very graphic terms the fright which these women felt at the time and its effects on them,” she said. “Each of them continues to be adversely affected by your actions. They are still uncomfortable in their workplace.”
But Judge Patrick said it did appear Lamb had some insight into his offending and his prospect of rehabilitation seemed to be good. With 92 days reckoned as time served, Lamb will be eligible for release in nine months.