A former disability support worker sprayed petrol over a shop attendant and threatened to set him alight during an armed robbery, a court has heard.
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Police allege Kepa Kemp, 40, separately threatened five people with weapons and robbed them in Melbourne's west between December 10 and December 27 last year.
The alleged armed robberies include threats made against attendants in a tobacco shop, convenience store and pharmacy and a taxi driver.
Mr Kemp later told police he was drinking between four and six litres of cask wine each day at the time and also using the drugs cannabis and ice, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Thursday.
Around midday on Christmas Eve, Mr Kemp is alleged to have sprayed petrol from a drink bottle over a worker in a Hoppers Crossing pharmacy and threatened to set the man alight, unless the worker opened the cash register.
Senior Constable Michael Taylor said Mr Kemp fled the store with $300 in cash, packets of painkillers, perfume and the staffer's wallet. The man was physically uninjured.
Mr Kemp had earlier gone into the pharmacy and told the worker he needed something to treat nits, Senior Constable Taylor said.
He allegedly committed the offence a week after becoming a grandfather for the first time.
Defence counsel Amit Malik told the court the identity of the offender in the pharmacy was in dispute, although police suspect Mr Kemp left a fingerprint on a product in the store. Forensic testing is underway.
Mr Kemp is accused of stealing $2500 and cigarettes from a tobacco store in Werribee, robbing a Tarneit convenience store of $250, threatening a taxi driver with a knife and robbing him of $80 on Boxing Day, and stealing a man's phone the following day.
The alleged incidents had left the victims traumatised, Senior Constable Taylor said.
Mr Kemp is also charged with assaulting his then partner last year.
He applied for bail on Thursday and told the court through Mr Malik he would stay with his adult daughter if released from custody.
Hinerangi Kemp, who gave birth to a son in December, told the court her father had stayed with her and her partner at the time, but they had not noticed anything concerning about Mr Kemp's drinking.
Magistrate Suzanne Cameron said there was no plan in place for Mr Kemp to undergo alcohol rehabilitation, and that she considered the allegations against him serious.
She refused bail and ordered Mr Kemp to return to court next month.
