Brooke Emily Taylor, Dwayne Lee Gray jailed for armed robberies

A mum who carried out two armed robberies in one night had used drugs for half of her life and was jailed on her 20th birthday. Both she and one of her co-offenders were drug users.

A woman used a meat cleaver to hold up the Coles Express service station in Berserker and the Bondoola servo.

A mum who carried out two armed robberies in one night had used drugs for half of her life and was jailed on her 20th birthday.

Brooke Emily Taylor had grown up without her mother and father from a young age, defence barrister Sheridan Shaw told Rockhampton District Court.

“The main struggle for Miss Taylor has been her drug use throughout her life,” she said.

Taylor started using methamphetamines and marijuana when she was 10 years old and started using heroin when she was 13, the court heard.

“She was under the influence of drugs during both of the offences,” Ms Shaw said.

Taylor, and her co accused Dwayne Lee Gray, robbed the service station between Rockhampton and Yeppoon at Bondoola on the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road, at 3.40am on August 2, 2022.

They both pleaded guilty to the offence on June 19, 2023.

Gray, 31, drove Taylor and a third offender to the servo and Taylor robbed the place armed with a knife.

Dwayne Lee Gray.

Taylor had earlier robbed a Rockhampton petrol station – the Coles service station on Musgrave Street, Berserker at 12.05am, with another co-offender – a juvenile.

The juvenile has been dealt with by the courts.

Taylor was armed with a meat cleaver in the incidents.

In the robberies, the offenders got away with $200 and $300 cash, plus $300 worth of cigarettes from the Coles servo and 20-30 packets of cigarettes from the other.

“At the time, she was living anywhere she could – the streets between friends’ couches,” Ms Shaw said of Taylor.

She said the mother of one, who has a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, was completing courses while in custody to help her get a job upon release.

Gray’s barrister, Jordan Ahlstrand, said the father of one was “the getaway driver” in the offence.

He said Gray started using marijuana when he was 14 moving on to meth in his 20s.

Gray was on parole, and a two-month prison term suspended sentence at the time, which Judge Jeff Clarke activated.

Judge Clarke sentenced Gray to four years and two months prison for the Bondoola robbery and set parole eligibility for January 8, 2024, after taking into account 303 days non-declarable presentence custody.

He sentenced Taylor to 4.5 years prison, declared 319 days presentence custody as time served and set parole eligibility for February 4, 2024.