Corey Blackmore threatened to light fire, robbed grocer: court

The 28-year-old man only moments later then allegedly robbed a grocery store of money and drinks.

In documents tendered to court, police said Corey Blackmore's case manager at Wollongong Community Mental Health service unsuccessfully tried to contact him on Sunday afternoon.

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The manager tried to call Blackmore's mother who told her about "disturbing social media posts" on her son's Facebook page that he allegedly made the previous day.

"Guess what I'm doing sometime this week walking into the mental health building at Wollongong with a bottle of petrol pouring it all over the counters and I'm going to light it on fire. Oh and I promise Facebook family I will go live on here so you guys enjoy the show much love and respect to you all," the documents said.

Blackmore called his case manager on Sunday and after a short discussion about his community treatment order he allegedly said, "I'm going to come in and pour petrol over the desk and set the place on fire" before he hung up.

The case manager called police and while she was on the phone, Blackmore allegedly walked into the office but left a short time later.

The case manager allegedly told police she was scared for her own safety and that of her colleagues.

A short time later Blackmore was allegedly captured on CCTV footage walking into a grocery store on Crown Street.

Police allege Blackmore removed two bottles of Gatorade and approached the counter before he said to the store employee, "listen, give me fifty bucks out of the till".

The attendant refused prompting Blackmore to allegedly tell him to open it again before he said "or I'm going to stab you".

The man believed he saw Blackmore, who walked behind the counter, with a a knife tucked into his shorts' waistband and he handed over two $50 notes, police allege.

Blackmore allegedly took the bottles and money before police were called.

Officers looked at the surveillance footage and allegedly recognised Blackmore. They went to his house and he was allegedly wearing the same clothes as seen in the footage.

Blackmore was arrested and charged with committing a robbery armed with an offensive weapon and intimidation.

Magistrate Susan McGowan refused to grant Blackmore bail noting the prosecution case against him appeared strong due to CCTV footage.

The case was adjourned to January 19 next year.

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