Israel Dixon, 21, had a clean criminal record until the morning of October 24 last year, when he walked into the Metro service station on Shellharbour Rd with a pink-handled kitchen knife hidden in his jumper pocket.

With the hood of his jumper up, he banged his hand on the counter and pointed the 10cm blade at the 23-year-old attendant, telling her, "give me the money from the till, and the smokes".

The attendant, working alone, would later tell police she feared for her safety. She told Dixon, "don't hurt me, I will give you everything", before grabbing packets of cigarettes from the cupboard.

"Give me the expensive ones," Dixon instructed.

Dixon walked away with a plastic bag full of 37 packets of Winfield cigarettes, before the woman rang triple-0. He got as far as a nearby park between Lindwall and Johnston streets, before police arrested him. They found the knife and bag full of cigarettes nearby.

In a police interview, Dixon said he had been staying at a friend's house and had smoked five cones in the lead-up. He told police he had been hearing voices in his head for the past couple of years and he "just snapped" when he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stepped outside that morning, fully intending to rob a service station.

He admitted he had been thinking about committing the offence "for a while" and said he had initially planned to rob a nearby 7-Eleven but saw there were too many people inside when he walked past.

The Metro was empty though, Dixon said, adding he thought a female attendant "may hand it over a bit easier".

Read more: Harley rider 'hid in bin' after Lake Heights police pursuit

During his interactions with police, Dixon asked officers to apologise to his victim on his behalf. He denied he was affected by any drug when he committed the robbery telling police "he could handle it".

In Wollongong District Court on Tuesday, Dixon was sentenced to a term of one year, 11 months imprisonment, to be served by way of an intensive corrections order. It is a condition of the order that he perform 50 hours community service.

The Illawarra Mercury news app is now officially live on both iOS and Android devices. It is available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play.