A Yass woman has told the ACT Supreme Court an abusive partner and threats against her family pressured her into carrying out a drug debt-settling armed robbery that left a victim "paralysed with fear".
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Taylee Elizabeth Dowling, 26, faced court for sentencing on Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated robbery and riding in a motor vehicle without consent.
"I didn't want to go through with it," Dowling said from the witness stand regarding the August 5, 2022, incident.
Agreed facts state the female victim parked her Kia Cerrato at the University of Canberra campus in Bruce at about 11.30am on the day.
Dowling and a male driver, identified in court on Thursday as Dowling's then-partner Michael Manning, pulled up on the passenger side of the victim's car.
The offenders were in a car taken from Mr Manning's mother without consent.
The victim exited her vehicle and was approached from behind by Dowling, who "gently grabbed both of [the victim's] arms".
Holding an approximately 15cm-long, black, straight-bladed kitchen knife across her chest, Dowling told the victim "in a soft voice, that sounded almost apologetic", words to the effects of: "Don't scream, I'm sorry, I have to do this."
Dowling told the victim to hand over her car keys and iPhone.
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The victim observed the male offender sitting in the driver's seat of the car Dowling had exited, fearing the knife would be used against her if she did not comply or that she could be run over if she ran.
The two offenders escaped with the victim's phone and car.
The car was eventually recovered without any of the victim's belongings and Dowling was arrested in Belconnen on August 12.
A victim impact statement, tendered in court on Thursday, said the woman was so fearful during the incident she could not move or scream.
"I even lost control of my bladder," she said.
"I have never felt so terrified and powerless in my life."
The victim also described being in significant financial stress as a result of losing her car, her "most valuable possession", which was temporarily being used to "house all of my belongings".
"I was left with next to nothing," the victim said.
Dowling, who was under the influence of methamphetamine during the incident, told the court on Thursday that she was introduced to the drug by Mr Manning when they started their relationship in 2020.
The court heard that when the pair accrued a $6000 drug debt which could be paid with either money or a stolen car, Mr Manning, who was on bail, "pressured" Dowling into the aggravated robbery.
Mr Manning allegedly brought the knife and selected the female victim.
"He'd given [the knife] to me ... and showed me how to hold it," Dowling said.
"Get out, go do it now," Mr Manning allegedly told Dowling when they saw the victim.
Dowling also said she faced threats to "myself and my family" from the people she co-owed the drug debt to.
She also recounted a history of physical and verbal abuse allegedly perpetrated by Mr Manning.
The pair are no longer in a relationship and, other than a one-day November relapse, Dowling said she had not used methamphetamine since her arrest.
Asked to reflect on her part in the incident, Dowling said she was "absolutely disgusted" by her actions.
"Heartbroken that I could put someone through that. It's something that [the victim] has to live with everyday and so do I," she said.
Defence lawyer Sam McLaughlin asked Acting Justice Stephen Norrish to consider a suspended sentence with conditions for Dowling, who was not eligible for an intensive correction order due to her NSW residency.
Mr McLaughlin described Dowling's actions as an "aberration in her young life", with the offender having "every potential to fully rehabilitate".
Acting Justice Norrish is set to sentence Dowling on Friday.
Mr Manning has not been charged over his alleged involvement in the August incident.
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Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
