A Canberra man who bit a shopkeeper during an armed hold up will spend more than four years in prison after appearing in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday.
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Christopher Hawkins, 26, was sentenced after pleading guilty to two armed robberies, at the Griffith Shops and Narrabundah newsagency, driving a stolen vehicle and obtaining property by deception.
The court heard Hawkins and another man had entered the Narrabundah newsagency in February 2017 with Hawkins wearing a balaclava and gloves and brandishing a small axe.
Hawkins then told the man behind the counter to get on the floor, before he held the axe to his neck and forced the victim to roll onto his stomach.
They made away with more than $5000 in cash and stole the man's wallet including his credit card, which was used several days later to purchase alcohol, cigarettes, clothing and phone recharge vouchers.
Chief Justice Helen Murrell said the robbery was not sophisticated but had shown elements of premeditation, evidenced by the balaclavas, gloves and weapon.
The court also heard the men exchanged text messages, including a picture of a hunting knife, to which Hawkins responded with emojis of guns and bags of money.
Later that month Hawkins held up a Griffith shop armed with a tomahawk and wearing a motorcycle helmet.
After Hawkins had demanded money from the register and the shopkeeper had handed it over, the man grabbed the tomahawk and pulled Hawkins into a "bear hug".
Hawkins bit the man's forearm in an attempt to escape and eventually the shopkeeper agreed to release him if Hawkins left immediately.
The bite resulted in the shopkeeper losing a significant amount of blood and he may be left with a permanent scar. Chief Justice Murrell also said the man would have spent days fearful he had potentially caught a communicable disease.
Police were able to use DNA evidence from the man's forearm and the tomahawk to identify Hawkins.
In sentencing Hawkins, Chief Justice Murrell pointed to his extensive criminal history but also acknowledged his difficult upbringing, where his father had spent long periods in jail and his mother had battled drug and alcohol addiction.
She told the court Hawkins had spent much of his adult life in custody but said she would take into account his good chances of rehabilitation. This was evidenced, she said, by a stint of successful employment and his relationship of about two years with his partner which had encouraged him to stop abusing substances due to his partner's health concerns.
Hawkins was sentenced to a total of four years and eight months in prison with a non-parole period of two years and four months.
He will be eligible for release in April 2021.
