A man who rode a pushbike to a planned armed hold-up of the Kambah Woolworths has lost a bid to overturn his conviction.
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The man, who is in his 30s, had waited and watched the supermarket in Kambah in early 2011, tracking the movements of money at various points during the week.
He and his accomplice were then said to have reached an agreement to rob the Woolworths during phone calls and a meeting.
That included one call on January 5, 2011, covertly recorded by police, where the man said:
“And yeah saw something really nice that I’ll do tomorrow night.”
“Are you gonna do something tomorrow?” his accomplice replied.
“Yeah I got to I’m broke.”
The next day, the pair rode their pushbikes down to the shops.
They hid the bikes in bushes, along with a zip-up bag containing a pinch bar, gloves, a black jumper and beanies.
Police swooped on them, arresting both before the planned heist could be carried out. The accomplice was found with a knife.
The man in his 30s was charged with conspiring to commit aggravated robbery.
He fought the charge, arguing the agreement had not been as serious as was being alleged.
But he was found guilty and sentenced on March 19, 2013, to six years and nine months imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years and six months.
He fought his conviction on appeal, arguing the jury’s verdict was unsafe or unjust.
That required the full court of the Court of Appeal to determine whether the evidence was enough to make it open for the jury to find him guilty.
The court found there was insufficient evidence to find that they had agreed to have a weapon with them at the time.
But it found that it had not caused a miscarriage of justice, because the criteria for the aggravation element of an aggravated robbery charge was already fulfilled by the fact that he had acted in company.
The appeal against the conviction was dismissed, but the inmate still has an upcoming appeal against the sentence.