A 26-year-old Ballarat man who was recruited to help settle a drug debt and ended up committing an armed robbery faces significant time behind bars.
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A County Court sitting at Ballarat on Wednesday heard Shaun Alfred Schoefbaenker was armed with a knife when he entered a Tait Street house with a 36-year-old man who was looking to recover a drug debt on April 5, last year.
The men pushed past a female who answered the door and made their way to a rear bedroom where a 19-year-old man and his 17-year-old cousin were playing a Playstation.
The court heard 36-year-old Michael Phillips held the door shut as Schoefbaenker waved the knife around.
Demands for money were made as Schoefbaenker searched through drawers.
An iPad valued at $250 and phone were taken.
Schoefbaenker, who was on bail and serving a community corrections order at the time, remained at large when he committed a second theft on April 12.
The court heard he asked to borrow a phone from someone he knew, but instead of giving it back he ran off with it.
Schoefbaenker’s barrister David Gray, said his client stole and sold the phone because the phone’s owner sold a $1000 bike belonging to his little brother for a point of ice worth $50.
As for the armed robbery, Schoefbaenker originally told police committing armed robberies was “not his thing”.
On Wednesday his barrister told the court his client had used ice which “clouded” his judgement on the day.
He said the drug addiction, which intensified after his client began self-medicating to deal with the death of a friend, and Schoefbaenker’s intellectual disability played a significant role in the offending.
Mr Gray said while he could not argue an immediate term of imprisonment was not appropriate, he said his client’s intellectual disability – which meant his ability to judge a situation is different to the average person – was relevant in assessing his degree of moral culpability and sentencing.
Since being in custody Schoefbaenker had gained almost 40kg and had been prescribed methadone, which Mr Gray said had helped his client develop insight into his offending.
He added Schoefbaenker now realised he may not live past 35 if he continued to take ice.
Judge Mark Gamble said the accused’s “entrenched” drug problem was something that could, and needed to be, addressed with programs while on parole.
Schoefbaenker, who pleaded guilty to the armed robbery, assault and two counts of theft, will be sentenced next Wednesday.