A man has admitted to an armed robbery at Figtree Hotel in which he threatened female staff members at the till to "give me all the money or I'll shoot up the place".
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Christopher James Dunn-Holz dialled into Wollongong Local Court from custody on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery stemming from June 11.
Tendered court documents state Dunn-Holz was seen on the venue's CCTV playing three different poker machines, before he approached a gaming attendant while he was carrying a scooter about 6pm.
He said words to the effect of "I want to see what's in the drawer", while the victim glanced down and saw Dunn-Holz was holding an object she believed looked like the end of a gun.
The victim's manager walked over and stood behind her as an agitated Dunn-Holz repeated his demand.
"Give me all the money or I'll shoot you," he said, adding he just wanted the notes.
The victim handed over the cash and as Dunn-Holz left the venue he threatened: "If you call the cops I'll come back and shoot ya".
The manager contacted triple-0, with an audit of the till revealing $1,040 was missing. Detectives arrived shortly after while police searched the suburb for Dunn-Holz.
A witness approached an officer on Arkell Drive and said a man holding a scooter had approached him and offered $50 if he called him a taxi.
The witness said Dunn-Holz was carrying a large wad of cash and said: "I'd gone to figgy pub with a mate ... and won the jackpot thing ... these guys were eyeballing me so I wanted to leave."
The witness said Dunn-Holz then bolted up the street and threw the scooter into a garden bed.
Police found Dunn-Holz crouching by some bushes at a stranger's house on O'Donnell Drive shortly after, and asked him to get on the ground, believing he may be armed.
Dunn-Holz knelt and threw his hands up before he was arrested at the scene.
He was found with $890 in cash, a vape, his ID. His DNA was also lifted from the main button of a Figtree Hotel pokie machine. There was no firearm seized.
Dunn-Holz will receive his date for sentence at Wollongong District Court on February 7.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
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Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
