The victim of an armed hold-up wishes the robber had pulled the trigger when he pointed a gun at her head, a Canberra court has heard.
The woman was working at the Caltex service station in Hume on June 30, 2007, when Timothy James Price, 22, entered the store between 2am and 3am, brandished a firearm and demanded money.
He made off with $319.60 from the cash registers, money he allegedly spent on methamphetamine.Yesterday, the 45-year-old woman told the ACT Supreme Court it was not the first time she had looked down the barrel of a gun.
With her attacker just metres away from her in the courtroom, the woman told how her mother's partner threatened her with a rifle when she was in primary school.
''These [guns] would be pointed directly at my face and various other parts, plus placed inside various regions of my body,'' she said.
''On many occasions, the rifle of the day would be pulled with the bullet just missing me.''
The woman, who said she was born with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and a hearing impairment, told Justice Hilary Penfold that her estranged brother also threatened her with a gun in the early 1990s.
She said she was working as a Customs officer when the estranged brother, who she believed had a criminal record, tried to coerce her into helping him carry out illegal activities. ''He tied me to a tree, placed a pistol to my head and demanded that I make changes to the information stored in the Australian Customs Service computers,'' she said.
The woman told the court she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder soon afterwards. She said she feared for her life and had changed her name, removed her address from the electoral roll and obtained a silent number.
She told Justice Penfold she had regular flashbacks to the hold-up.
''When I'm outside my unit I am constantly scanning every person, vehicle, place, for where a weapon must be,'' she said. ''Just to go to a supermarket and buy some milk or bread or washing powder is so difficult.
''I've taken some of the pressure off me; I have about 100 rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom which I purchased off the internet.'' She sobbed as she told how she had considered committing suicide.
''Since the event, I go no more than five minutes without wishing I was dead, that I had been killed at the time of the hold-up. It would be so much easier than living as I am now,'' she said.
The woman told Price she was plagued by memories of him holding a weapon.
''I am so tired of seeing you and your shotgun, and I do not know how to make you go away.''
The court heard that, on the night of the incident, Price was driven to the service station by another man, Aaron Peter Mazeika, who has already been sentenced.
Justice Penfold convicted Price yesterday of aggravated robbery.
Price's defence lawyers argued that the court should disregard aspects of the victim's statement concerning her family history, as they did not directly relate to the effect of the offence.
Justice Penfold indicated she would accept the entire statement but focus on the elements pertaining to the effects of the 2007 hold-up.
Price will be sentenced next month.
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