by Cam Lucadou-Wells
An armed robber who took part in a “brazen” and “frightening” daylight heist at a Dandenong pawn shop has been jailed.
Blake Platten, 21, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to armed robbery and possessing meth.
On the late afternoon of 23 October last year, Platten and two men mounted the footpath in a stolen Nissan Pulsar and parked at the front door of Cash Guys in Langhorne Street.
Armed with hammers, Platten and a co-offender who was wearing a ‘devil mask’ got out of the car and struck the store’s glass window and door.
In a 75-second heist, the pair smashed glass display cabinets with hammers and stole about $25,000 of jewellery.
Platten’s offsider lunged with the hammer at a staff member, who had picked up a wooden rocking horse and tried to scare the pair away.
The worker fell backwards with the horse coming down upon him.
“This was very plainly from the footage, a frightening, fast moving and confronting event,” sentencing judge Michael Tinney said on 16 October.
“It was a team effort with a stolen car, a driver, gloves and a bag and disguises and weapons.
“We can see in that recent footage … the various pedestrians outside the outlet who fled across the road. This was brazen and frightening offending.”
He noted the casual worker had since suffered PTSD and anxiety, as well as a loss of his savings while taking time off work.
“Though he fell over in the course of the armed robbery, he is relieved that he was not struck with the hammer or struck with the screwdriver,” Judge Tinney said.
The robbers fled in the getaway car to a room at Comfort Hotel in Gwenda Street. A few days later, Platten was arrested in the room during a police raid.
Police seized a small amount of meth from Platten’s pocket as well as a bag and hammer used in the robbery.
Most of the stolen property was unrecovered – but for a “handful of rings” found in the boot of the Pulsar.
In a police interview, Platten – who was on two community corrections orders at the time – denied taking part in the robbery.
One of the co-offenders is contesting the charges, the other has yet to be identified.
Judge Tinney noted Platten’s youthfulness and his disadvantaged upbringing, including staying in residential care, early drug dependence and just a Year 7 education.
“A background of disadvantage, as you experienced, is likely to have a profound and lasting consequence, as it no doubt has had in your case.
“It leaves its mark.”
Platten’s “short, sharp” criminal history included a multitude of less serious offences.
His rehabilitation prospects would depend on “big ifs” – stable accommodation, abstinence from drugs, mental health treatment and distancing himself from anti-social peers.
“You are still such a young man… It is not too late for you,” Judge Tinney said.
Platten was jailed for up to three-and-a-half years, with a 21-month non-parole period.
He had already served 355 days of the term in pre-sentence remand.
