A VICTORIAN man has been jailed for six years and six months for being involved in an armed robbery where he used a shotgun to steal a vehicle near Mil Lel.
Ethan Geebung, 28, appeared in the Adelaide District Court for sentencing on Friday after he was found guilty at trial of aggravated robbery and trafficking in a controlled drug.
The charges relate to a 2016 crime spree that allegedly started with Geebung helping a 20-year-old Victorian criminal escape from the Youth Justice Centre in the Victorian town of Malmsbury.
They absconded to South Australia, however their car was involved in an accident with another vehicle at the intersection of Sherwin Road and Attamurra Road in Mil Lel on November 10.
The driver of a third vehicle stopped to help, but Geebung approached and threatened him with a sawn-off double barrel shotgun before stealing his grey Nissan Navara.
He returned to the scene of the crash a few minutes later to retrieve something from his vehicle before driving off again.
Judge Julie McIntyre described the robbery as a “deplorable attack” on the victim.
“He was a hard-working man on his way to attend to cattle at his farm,” Judge McIntyre said.
“He was considerate enough to stop and offer you assistance.
“He was a Good Samaritan.
“You took advantage of his generosity by threatening him with a firearm and stealing his vehicle.”
Geebung drove the man’s vehicle to a nearby address in Mount Gambier shortly after the collision and requested a lift to another house in the city.
Police located the stolen vehicle and started a search for Geebung with the assistance of STAR Group patrols and PolAir.
Two more STAR Group vehicles arrived on the scene at 3.30pm to provide extra resources.
Police attended another address and conducted a search, finding a number of items, including two bags, a grey and black bag and a blue material bag.
In the black and grey bag police located eight plastic sealed bags each containing cannabis.
The total cannabis located was 2.34kg and was the subject of the trafficking count.
In the blue bag police found shotgun cartridges together with a sawn-off double-barrel shotgun, which was dismantled and wrapped in a red flannel towel.
He was arrested in respect of the aggravated robbery on December 22, 2016 and has been in custody ever since.
Judge McIntyre said the offending was “unsophisticated and opportunistic”, however that did not make it any less serious.
“The sentence I impose must bring home to you and others that you must not use weapons to threaten members of your community as they go about their lawful activities,” Judge McIntyre said.
“The community simply cannot tolerate the use of a sawn-off shotgun, possibly loaded, to rob a Good Samaritan such as the victim.”
She imposed a prison sentence of six years for both charges and set a non-parole period of five years, two months and 12 days.
The sentence was backdated to commence on December 22, 2016.
