A WALLA man told police his “mind was not there” when he used a loaded shotgun to hold up the Jindera general store earlier this year.
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Joel Simon Jacob, 22, has pleaded guilty to armed robbery after he threatened three workers, including a 13-year-old girl, on May 16.
In the transcript of a police interview handed to the court this week, Jacob blamed a cocktail of drugs and alcohol for his actions and said he was not in need of money.
“(I) guess I’d been taking speed that day and started drinking heavily in the morning into the afternoon,” he said.
“Just not sure (why I did it).
“Just come in my head and there, it’s what happened.”
Jacob said he had “snorted” amphetamine and consumed up to 10 alcoholic drinks before committing the crime between 6.45pm and 6.49pm.
While feeling sober, Jacob admitted the combined effects of drugs and booze clouds his judgement.
“My mind’s not there,’ he said.
Jacob, wearing a hooded jacket, produced a semi-automatic shotgun owned by his father to force staff to empty cash registers.
The girl, 13, had been working with another girl, aged 17, and a woman, 36, and there were no customers present at the time.
One of the victims, in her statement to police, said she “froze” when Jacob held the firearm about a metre from her head.
“I have never been through anything like this before — I have never been this scared,” the 17-year-old said.
“I was scared of dying.”
Jacob fled in a blue Commodore, which later crashed and was dumped on the side of the Olympic Way at Table Top.
He told police he fled to Albury on foot, stashing the gun near a motel and placing the cash in a drawer at a friend’s house.
Jacob, who has also been charged with a number of driving offences, expressed some remorse for the incident.
“I wish I could take it back; should never have happened,” he said.
“What I put them girls through, trouble I got myself in.”
Jacob will be sentenced in the District Court sittings in Albury on October 26.
