Tyson Wells pleaded guilty to armed robbery at Hervey Bay District Court

A thief who stole an electric scooter from a Pialba home equipped himself with a brick and told the owner he was ‘taking it no matter what’ after watching him arm himself with a shovel.

A thief who stole an electric scooter from a Pialba home equipped himself with a brick and told the owner he was “taking it no matter what” after watching him arm himself with a shovel.

In a brazen act of daylight robbery, a Pialba resident found himself face-to-face with a thief determined to make off with his electric scooter.

The tense confrontation unfolded when Tyson Wells, 23, armed himself with a brick, declaring his intent to take the scooter “no matter what,” even as the scooter owner brandished a shovel in defence

Wells fronted the Hervey Bay District Court charged with one count of armed robbery after an incident on September 24, 2024.

He entered a backyard in Pialba and began to leave with an electric scooter, before the owner noticed what was happening, Crown Prosecutors told the court.

The owner, arming himself with a shovel, confronted Wells as he began to take off.

Wells picked up a masonry brick from the ground and told him he was “taking the scooter no matter what”.

The man reluctantly let Wells leave the property following the exchange, no physical harm was done to either person.

Once arrested, Wells claimed he only armed himself with the brick after the victim picked up the shovel.

Judge Jennifer Rosegren highlighted Wells’ five-page criminal history, which contained a similar offence of armed robbery from nearly five years ago.

On December 8 2020, Wells was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment after stealing cash and e-cigarettes from a service station armed with a machete, while a co-offender was armed with a bottle of alcohol.

Man wielding a machete. Generic. Picture: iStock

He was released on parole for this incident and other offences he had previously committed on January 25, 2025

His defence Barrister, Natalie Keys, said he had suffered physical abuse and neglect during his formative years, which led to a “longstanding addiction to methamphetamine”.

Judge Rosengren described Wells as “a living example of how drugs can destroy people’s lives”.

Wells pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery at the Hervey Bay District Court on Wednesday, May 15.

He was sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment, with 226 days declared as time served and a parole eligibility date of August 29, 2025.

Convictions were recorded.

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