A petrol station attendant orchestrated a robbery at the service station she worked at while she was on duty.
Nina Armstrong, 35, from Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to theft, perjury, aiding or abetting a false report to police, inciting another person to commit an offence, dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime and possessing cocaine.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Brent O’Grady said a woman entered the 7-Eleven service station in Numurkah Rd, Shepparton, shortly after 5am on January 29 and handed a note to Armstrong saying she had a gun and to give her cigarettes and money.
Armstrong handed back the note and gave the woman $391 in cash and packets of cigarettes.
Armstrong called police after the woman left the store, later telling police she handed over the money and cigarettes because she “was fearful”, Leading Sen Constable O’Grady said.
The court heard the other woman dropped her mobile phone on the corner of Numurkah and Wanganui Rds while fleeing, and police later found it.
When police checked the phone, they found 11 messages between the woman and Armstrong on January 11 and two phone calls from the woman to Armstrong’s partner at 3.30am on the morning of the robbery.
The search of the woman’s Shepparton home at 5.40pm on the day of the robbery uncovered cigarette packets on the couch that the woman said she stole.
She also told police Armstrong had arranged the robbery and that she had “taken the stuff” to Armstrong’s house.
When police arrested Armstrong at her home four hours later, they found 10 packets of cigarettes in a laptop bag.
In her statement to police, Armstrong said the other woman was in her house when she came home, and she had admitted the robbery.
She told police she did not know why the other woman had left cigarettes at her house and that she “had joked” about committing robberies.
The court also heard that police found Facebook messages between Armstrong and another woman on the second woman’s phone, where Armstrong was inciting that woman to commit a robbery at the service station.
That woman’s phone was seized on December 30, 2022, when she was arrested for another matter.
The messages were sent on October 29, 2022, but were not able to be accessed by police for some months after the other woman’s December arrest.
The robbery had already happened before the messages were seen by police.
Armstrong’s solicitor Shana McDonald told the court her client was a mother of five children and jail would significantly affect her because she had all the children in her care.
She said Armstrong was studying for a Bachelor of Psychological Science and Criminology and was “distraught” at the impact her crimes would have.
“The seriousness of her offending is not lost on my client,” Ms McDonald said.
Ms McDonald also said Armstrong had a borderline personality disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and she had limited court prior convictions.
Leading Sen Constable O’Grady, however, said the charges were serious.
“She was in a position of trust,” he said.
“She tried to incite one person (to do the robbery) and then convinced another.”
“And she committed perjury during the investigation.
“All her lies were a cover-up for what she had done.”
Magistrate Peter Mithen sentenced Armstrong to a 12-month community corrections order, which included 100 hours of community work.
Mr Mithen also ruled that up to 50 hours spent doing mental health treatment could be counted towards the community work hours.