A "brazen" daytime robbery at a Canberra takeaway shop "traumatised" a five-year-old boy who was metres from the assault, a court has heard.
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Lee Tavake Pikula, 33, fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday charged with aggravated robbery and three unrelated driving offences.
Mr Pikula pleaded not guilty to the aggravated robbery charge. He did not enter pleas for the other offences.
Police allege the owner of Narrabundah Takeaway was in the shop with her five-year-old son when Mr Pikula came in about 11am on December 2, 2019.
Instead of walking up to the counter, he went up to the owner behind it and pulled out a knife, court documents said. He pulled bluetooth headphones out of the owner's ears and threw them onto the floor, where they smashed.
Mr Pikula then allegedly took hold of the owner and walked her towards the cash register, which he got $50 out of.
He asked her for bank cards, took hold of her arm, and attempted to force her to come with him, the court documents said. She pushed back and he allegedly fled the shop with her handbag, which was at the back of the store.
The owner's five-year-old son watched the incident from no less than two metres away, the court documents said. The prosecution described the robbery as "brazen" and said Mr Pikula was a "flight risk" who was likely to re-offend.
Police linked Mr Pikula to the robbery after arresting him on December 8 for driving unlicensed and with drugs and alcohol in his system.
Mr Pikula allegedly told officers he had "a couple of cans of Woodstock, a bit of heroin, and an eight millimtere bupe strip" before being pulled over.
Officers seized clothes and a knife from a car Mr Pikula was allegedly driving when he fled the shop. They said the items matched CCTV footage of the incident, as did shoes he was wearing at the time of his arrest.
Mr Pikula's defence lawyer, Aboriginal Legal Service's Dean Rutherford, said the items were "pretty general" and the prosecution's case was "quite weak".
He said Mr Pikula hadn't been identified as the robber.
Magistrate James Lawton refused to grant Mr Pikula bail. He was due to appear in court again on January 20, 2020.