Baylee Amson-Cook pleads guilty to armed robbery, shotgun possession

A Gold Coast man has been found with a dismantled shotgun after organising to ambush a customer with a pole over a $1500 prescription drug deal on the Sunshine Coast.

Baylee-Amson Cook faced Maroochydore District Court earlier this month. Picture: Patrick Woods.

A Surfers Paradise man has been released on parole after he orchestrated a violent robbery with a metal pole over a prescription drug deal on the Sunshine Coast.

Maroochydore District Court heard earlier this month how Baylee Amson-Cook arranged to sell $1500 worth of Xanax to the victim at the Cooroy home of his co-accused.

Court documents state the victim arrived on November 10, 2022 where the 26-year-old began to menace the victim with a pole while his mate allegedly had a small knife.

Judge Glen Cash Amson-Cook then demanded the $1500 from the victim.

The victim was able to flee and dropped his keys, phone and the cash.

Amson-Cook returned the keys and phone to the man however kept the cash.

Amson-Cook. Picture: Social media

The court heard the 26-year-old was searched by police a few days later where he was found with a dismantled shotgun.

Judge Cash said the Surfers Paradise man was no stranger to crime, being in prison in 2018 for drug matters until he came back into the sight of police in 2022.

The court was told Amson-Cook was also found with drugs during the search, with the offences finalised at the Supreme Court in Brisbane a week prior to his sentence where he received a jail term with immediate parole.

Judge Cash said Amson-Cook spent 393 days in custody leading up to that sentence.

Court documents state the 26-year-old man came from a prejudicial background where he abused drugs from an early age, however was able to rally and work productively at times in hospitality and construction.

He pleaded guilty to two charges. Picture: Patrick Woods

The District Court Judge however said Amson-Cook committed the robbery while in the “grips of addiction”.

Since his arrest in late 2022, he spent more than a year in jail until he was granted bail. The Surfers Paradise man then spent time in a rehabilitation facility for his drug issues.

The court heard Amson-Cook was now drug free, and had written a letter to the court which spoke of his remorse.

Judge Cash told the 26-year-old the proof of this remorse laid in the future, which depended on whether he would stay away from drugs and crime with the support of his friends and family.

Amson-Cook pleaded guilty to armed robbery in company and possessing a category C weapon and was jailed for two and a half years, but granted immediate parole.