A Berkeley man who held up a Domino's delivery driver with a screwdriver for $50 has avoided a stint behind bars, with the court hearing how he had since turned his life around.
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Nicholas Coelho, 33, was sentenced in the Wollongong District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to robbery armed with an offensive weapon.
Late on the night of June 18 last year, the victim was sitting in the Domino's delivery vehicle in Oak Flats when he took $35 paid to him for an earlier delivery and put it in a pouch in the cup holder.
Coelho pulled up beside him in his black Volkswagen Golf and tried to speak to the victim, prompting the man to lower his window.
Coelho said, "Hey buddy, can you give me $10 for Domino's?" and when the victim refused, he said "I saw you putting money in there, give me money" before pointing a star-end screwdriver at him.
He again demanded the victim hand over cash and threatened to hit him.
The victim handed over some cash but Coelho told him to "give [him] all of it", so the victim gave him more , about $50 in total.
The victim drove away, so frightened of Coelho that he did not even turn his lights on, then called his manager in tears.
About 11.40pm police approached Coelho after seeing him pull into the driveway of a Berkeley address.
Coehlo admitted he had a screwdriver, which officers found when they searched the vehicle.
He also told officers that he had taken about $35 from the victim and gone to McDonald's.
Coelho said he did not touch the victim and was not going to hurt him.
"It wasn't like I was armed with anything bad," he told police.
In court on Friday, the Crown prosecutor suggested to Coelho that he did not appreciate the seriousness of his offending, having told police on the night of the crime, "I'm not a bad person, I was just hungry".
"No, it was serious, I'm very sorry about what happened to the victim... I'm still ashamed and embarrassed," Coelho said.
His sister and brother-in-law also gave evidence to the court of his remorse and described him as a "changed man" in the year that had elapsed since the crime, having kicked his addiction to methamphetamine.
"It's been incredible to watch how far he's come in that year," Jennifer Coelho said.
Defence lawyer Julian Cesta said the offending was unsophisticated and unplanned, and his client had since become abstinent from drugs and committed to full-time work.
The Crown prosecutor told the court that a corrections order would not be an appropriate sentence because of the seriousness of the crime.
She said the offending had had a "significant effect" on the victim and Coelho had previously committed another robbery in 2007, although acknowledged there had been a gap in his offending.
In sentencing, Judge Julia Baly noted that Coelho committed the robbery while he was on a community corrections order and recognisance for common assault, intimidation and using a carriage service to harass.
Judge Baly said the weapon used in the offence, the screwdriver, was not as lethal as a knife but capable of inflicting serious injury and even death.
"It does seem to me to have been almost entirely opportunistic," she said.
The victim was vulnerable, delivering pizzas at night, Judge Baly said, and the ordeal left him terrified.
But while it was a serious offence, the judge considered it to be below the mid-range of seriousness for offences of this kind.
Judge Baly said Coelho had shown a "very high level of remorse".
"Clearly Mr Coelho is working... and he has, to his absolute credit, addressed his problem with the drug ice, that has plagued him for so many years," she said.
She found he had good prospects of rehabilitation and was unlikely to reoffend.
Judge Baly sentenced Coelho to a term of imprisonment of one year and 11 months, to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.
Coelho must complete 300 hours of community service and undergo treatment as directed by Community Corrections.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
