Jason Wayne Comer, 50, fights armed robbery charge at trial

The lawyer of an alleged bank robber has quizzed witnesses whether the robber had a “distinctive limp” or was walking funnily because of the bag of coins he was carrying

Police at the Geelong West Bendigo Bank branch where an armed robbery occurred in 2021. Picture: Alison Wynd

The lawyer defending a Corio man accused of a brazen, daylight bank heist has questioned witnesses if the robber was walking “funnily” because of a limp or the bag of $2500 worth of coins he was carrying.

The trial of Jason Wayne Comer, 50, continued on Wednesday, after opening statements from the Crown and the defence were heard on Tuesday.

The Corio man is fighting an armed robbery charge stemming from a man holding up the Bendigo Bank in Geelong West with a sawn-off shotgun on April 30, 2021.

Several bank employees testified on their recollections of the heist on Wednesday.

One employee, Jennifer Vaningen, described the robber as being in his 40s, balding and a “bigger man” who was “a little bit chunkier”.

She said he was walking “funnily” with a “long gun” in his right hand.

Mr Comer’s lawyer, Nick Goodenough, asked Ms Vaningen whether the limp could have been caused by the money bags he had taken – which contained $2500 in coins.

Ms Vaningen denied that claim.

Another employee, Ellen Jamieson, told the court the robber had a “stocky build” and was “in his 50s” with a “crew cut”.

She said the robber “had a limp” prompting her to think he might have had a “stuffed knee”.

“I can carry the amount of coins he had, and I don’t limp,” she said.

Prosecutor Andrew McKenry provided screenshots of CCTV footage to the jury, showing the robber wearing an orange fluoro shirt during the heist.

The jury was also played a recording of Mr Comer’s police interview from May 15, 2021, after his arrest.

In the footage, detectives probed Mr Comer about his movements on the day of the robbery, to which he responded “couldn’t tell you”, adding his “memory is too bad to comment”.

The court also heard Mr Comer told police he lived in Caboolture in Queensland, but couldn’t remember the exact address.

The footage showed Mr Cromer was irate and said they were “terrorising a woman and a baby” when officers paused the interview to search the house his partner and child were living in.

Mr Comer said the robber “wasn’t me, (and) it definitely wasn’t her or the baby”.

Once the interview resumed, Mr Comer laughed when told a fluoro orange “tradie shirt” had been seized at the Corio address.

“That’s crazy … every man and his dog has got an orange tradie shirt,” Mr Comer told police in the footage.

“I’ve got 20 of them, all different colours, shapes, sizes.”

When asked if he had ever been to the Bendigo Bank branch in Geelong West, Mr Comer replied “where’s Geelong West”.

The trial continues.

EARLIER.

“It’s not him,” the trial of a man accused of terrorising staff and customers at a Geelong West Bank with a sawn-off shotgun before fleeing with thousands of dollars, has been told. 

Jason Wayne Comer, 50, appeared in the County Court in Geelong on Tuesday, facing a single charge of armed robbery. He wore a suit and glasses and pleaded not guilty.   

On April 30, 2021 at 3.29pm, a man wearing sunglasses and a black face mask entered the Geelong West branch of Bendigo Bank, the court heard.

The man pulled a black sawn-off shotgun from a white Aldi bag, pointed it at staff and shouted “give me your f**king money”, before fleeing with three bags holding $2500. There was no forensic evidence recovered from the bank. 

In the Crown’s opening, Andrew McKenry told the jury that a distinctive limp, as well as CCTV evidence and four mobile phone numbers would be central to the Crown’s case. According to court documents, the prosecution will present 44 witnesses to make its case.   

Mr McKenry told the court Mr Comer owned a black Holden ute, which resembled one seen in the streets around the bank leading up to the robbery and was then seen driving “at a fast rate of speed” at 3.32pm.

According to Mr McKenry, the driver was captured on CCTV wearing an orange shirt that resembled that of the robber’s.

The court heard that on the night of the robbery, Mr Comer drove up the Hume Highway to NSW in his partner’s car, before returning to Victoria several days later.

On May 13, Mr Comer is alleged to have then driven the black ute to Queensland, where he bought a prepaid SIM card, registered it using his partner’s name, and sold the ute to an acquaintance.

After booking a flight home, Mr Comer boarded a flight home from Brisbane under his acquaintance’s name, having borrowed the man’s phone.

On May 15, Mr Comer was arrested by police at Avalon Airport.

Police found two phones and a wallet containing $1892.50 in cash on his person, Mr McKenry told the jury. A search of Mr Comer’s home turned up an orange shirt, like the one depicted in the CCTV footage.

Mr Comer was interviewed, Mr McKenry said, and denied committing the robbery or being in the vicinity of the robbery.

In his own opening, Mr Comer’s defence lawyer, Nick Goodenough, told the court the man in the bank wasn’t Mr Comer, and asked jurors to “keep an open mind”.

Mr Goodenough said there was no dispute about “quite a lot of things” including that Mr Comer lived in Corio and owned a black ute – what was disputed was the identity of the man in the bank.

“It’s not him, he didn’t do it,” Mr Goodenough told the court. The trial continues.

Originally published as Jason Wayne Comer, 50, fights armed robbery charge at trial