Veteran nurse Tracy Joan Dawkins jailed for more than four years for a bizarre 20-minute service station robbery spree

A knife-wielding woman who robbed three Adelaide service stations in just 20 minutes is a veteran nurse and mother-of-two earning $90,000 a year.

A veteran nurse robbed three service stations in 20 minutes days before she was due to go on an overseas trip, a court has heard.

A veteran nurse and mother-of-two who robbed three soft targets in just 20 minutes at knifepoint – despite earning $90,000 a year – has been jailed for more than four years.

The District Court has refused to suspend Tracy Joan Dawkins’ prison term, even though her crimes were out of character and her personal circumstances “excite considerable sympathy”.

Judge Adam Kimber conceded Dawkins had a history of substance abuse, dating back to a “sedative and hypnotic drug” her mother gave her as a teenager.

However, he found little could offset the fact Dawkins had stolen $700 from vulnerable service station workers just days before she was due to take an overseas holiday.

“Your offending was bizarre … there is a need to protect people who work in places which make them vulnerable to offending of this type,” he said.

“You were affected by a drug … being armed with a weapon, while intoxicated, gives rise to a risk that someone might be physically harmed, even though that was not your intention.

“While your conduct was out of character, and your remorse nothing but genuine, I am unable to go so far as to say that personal deterrence has no relevance.”

Dawkins, 59, of Torrensville, pleaded guilty to two aggravated counts of robbery and one aggravated count of attempted robbery, and faced a maximum life sentence.

On March 15, 2020, she tried to rob a service station on Henley Beach Rd, then robbed two more – on Marion Rd and Richmond Rd – within 20 minutes.

Dawkins brandished a knife at each incident and demanded cash via a note that read “hand over your money and there will be no trouble, I have a knife”.

In sentencing, Judge Kimber said police caught Dawkins a short time later – she was in her car with the money, the knife and the note.

He noted her “longstanding problem with benzodiazepines” but said that had not motivated her crimes.

“You were not really in need of money … you (earned) an annual salary of a little more than $90,000 per year,” he said.

“You were due to commence leave in not much more than a week and go overseas … that trip had been paid for and you were about to receive additional funds in the form of holiday pay.”

Judge Kimber said the effects of medication she was taking – which were “not something anticipated by the doctor treating you” – likely played a role.

That did not lessen the seriousness of her offending, however, for which he imposed an 18-month non-parole period.