Strong prospects of rehabilitation have saved Canberra's "barefoot bandit" from a sentence behind bars for the armed robbery of a northside service station.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jake Miller, 29, will instead serve a 30-month jail sentence in the community via an intensive corrections order, which includes an order to complete 250 hours of community service.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson, in handing down sentence, said the punishment would allow Miller to continue in his job as a concreter, as employment played in important role in an offender's long-term prospects of rehabilitation.
Miller pleaded guilty in the ACT Supreme Court to aggravated robbery for the armed robbery of the Holt 7-Eleven in January last year.
The service station's CCTV system shows a bare-footed Miller enter the store about 10pm, walk to the counter, pull out a black pistol and demand cash. Miller made off with about $500.
A May sentence hearing heard Miller had turned to alcohol about the time of the offence after confronting a number of personal issues, including the breakdown of a relationship and tackling drug abuse and gambling addiction.
Miller, from the witness box, described how he'd passed out after returning from the robbery, only to wake the next day thinking it had all been a bad dream.
He remembered he'd "made a terrible decision" when he saw the replica gun and cash, so threw the fake weapon in the bin.
He then took time off work, and sought counselling to come to terms with what he had done.
The court heard Miller now lived a healthy, substance-free lifestyle and had expressed his remorse for the crime.
An intensive corrections order report said Miller acknowledged the seriousness of the offence, and did not attempt to justify his behaviour or minimise his actions.
The report said Miller thought about the robbery every day and the negative impact it had on the victim.
He was assessed as a low risk of general reoffending, and found to be suitable for an intensive corrections order and community service work.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson said jail would be an appropriate sentence, however, a decision needed to be made on the manner it would be served.
"The issue is the length of the sentence and whether it is essential that it be served by way of full-time imprisonment or whether it can be served by way of [an intensive corrections order]," the judge said.
"The offender's plea of guilty, his remorse, his suitability for an [intensive corrections order], and his good prospects for rehabilitation point in a direction other than a term of imprisonment served by way of full time custody.
"I do not consider a wholly suspended sentence is appropriate. I do not consider that the objective seriousness of the offending conduct compels a sentence of full-time custody as part of partially suspended sentence or otherwise."
Justice Loukas-Karlsson said the requirement for punishment and deterrence could be achieved by way of an intensive corrections order.
"The capacity to maintain full-time employment is likely to be an important component of his long-term rehabilitation and an [intensive corrections order] permits that to be maintained."
