It was Darren Williams' second armed robbery and occurred in a Sebastopol shed just three weeks before he was sentenced to prison for an armed robbery at the Sebastopol Bowling Club.

On April 2, 2018, the 37-year-old man invited the victim to his house. He arrived on his motorbike and parked it at the back of Williams' house.

Two co-accused, Robert Azzopardi and Jordan Anderson, and two females were at Williams' house. The victim made a comment about one of the females which angered Azzopardi.

Williams told the victim to go out to his shed where Azzopardi continued his aggression towards him.

Williams then took a sawed-off shot gun from under a tarpaulin and pointed it at the victim, telling him he had done the wrong thing and he should not have been standing there.

Azzopardi said the victim had to sign over his motorbike as punishment and told Anderson to create a false receipt and have the victim sign it.

The victim incorrectly spelled his name to delay the transfer but when Azzopardi saw the mistake, he became more threatening and put the victim in his car.

Williams thought about returning the motorbike and tried to change the situation, inviting the victim inside his house to smoke cannabis before the victim was driven away and was subjected to more violence, kidnapping and threats at the hands of Azzopardi.

At a committal hearing, the victim told the court before he was kidnapped, Williams said, "just let him go" but Azzopardi insisted on taking him away.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

In sentencing Williams on July 9, County Court Judge Gerard Mullaly said there was no dispute Williams tried to calm the situation and he was the least frightening of the three accused.

"The crime of armed robbery is always serious. The maximum term is 25 years' imprisonment."

The judge said the victim's statement showed how fearful he was during the ordeal, which had left him with "deep psychological scars", and acknowledged the majority of the victim's impact occurred at the hands of Azzopardi.

"This was a frightening example of armed robbery. A firearm was brandished. The victim was, in practical terms, encircled by men acting in company in a shed," Judge Mullaly said.

"He was forced to hand over a much-loved, valuable motorbike."

Judge Mullaly said after the armed robbery, the victim stated he felt "worthless, a waste of space, a paranoid depressive who doesn't trust the world". He now leaves his house in fear and is hypervigilent.

The victim made a huge effort to buy his expensive motorbike and limited edition helmet and losing it was significant.

"I love my motorbike and helmet so much. It's all I had," the victim said in his statement.

The court was told Williams had a disadvantaged and dysfunctional childhood and he left school in year nine and started using heroin. The father was drug-free for seven years before he spiraled downhill before the armed robbery.

In sentencing Williams to prison, Judge Mullaly said prisons were much harder places to be due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I am authorised to consider the COVID-19 pandemic, the worry it causes and the restrictions on prison life means that prisoners are more onerous and these matters have a mitigatory effect of what punishment is just and appropriate in this difficult time."

The judge said Williams' plea of guilty was valuable and his sentence would be reduced because of it.

"I must ensure my sentence does properly denounce your violent, frightening crime. I must endeavour to deter you, given your prior criminal history which is sadly lengthy. I must also endeavour to deter others from crimes involving firearms," Judge Mullaly said.

Williams was sentenced to three years and three months' imprisonment. The judge directed 18 months of the sentence to be served cumulatively with the sentence Williams is currently undergoing for the bowling club armed robbery.

For that crime, he was sentenced in April, 2018, to five months' imprisonment with a minimum of three years and three months. This means the new sentence is six years and six months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years and seven months from April 22, 2018.

Thursday's sentence has added one year and four months to Williams' non-parole period.

If he did not plead guilty, Williams would have received five years' imprisonment with a minimum of three years, according to the judge.

Williams pleaded guilty to armed robbery and being a prohibited person possessing a firearm at the County Court of Victoria.

In August, Azzopardi was jailed for seven years and six months after he pleaded guilty to armed robbery, kidnapping, extortion with a threat to kill and possessing a firearm while a prohibited person.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.