George St Beenleigh armed robbery: Alan John Jones in court
A man accused of restraining two terrified women with cable ties, while robbing them at knifepoint at a Beenleigh business has been identified in court, as more details of the shocking alleged incident emerge.
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A man accused of cable tying a pair of terrified female employees at a Beenleigh business yesterday afternoon while robbing them at knifepoint allegedly put stolen money inside the underwear of one of his victims in exchange for her silence.
Beenleigh man Alan John Jones, 30, was charged with nine offences following yesterday’s alleged George St stick-up, including three counts of deprivation of liberty, two counts each of stealing and common assault, and one count each of armed robbery and enter a premises to commit indictable offence.
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Police say Mr Jones entered Overflow warehouse store on George St about 4.40pm yesterday afternoon and helped himself to a pair of cable ties from a shelf before brandishing a knife at the employees.
Police prosecutor Zoe Melksham told Beenleigh Magistrates Court today the 20cm kitchen knife was tucked into Mr Jones’ waistband and he lifted his shirt and told one of the women, “This is an armed robbery”.
It is alleged the women handed Mr Jones, who lives only a few doors up from Overflow, cash from the till before he ordered them into another room and bound their arms with cable ties, police claim.
He then allegedly forced the pair to provide him access to a safe from which he took additional cash.
Ms Melksham told the court Mr Jones then offered the victims a quantity of money in order to buy their silence.
She said money was placed inside the pocket of one of the victims and inside the underwear of the other victim, which would have been a “very traumatic experience”, she submitted.
Police say the man left the women tied up and took their mobile phones before fleeing the store.
Police were called a short time later and investigations led to Mr Jones at a Snowden St, Slacks Creek address, where he was allegedly found to be in possession of the phones and money.
The court heard the amount of money stolen was a “large quantity” but the exact amount is unknown.
Mr Jones has been convicted of previous armed robberies, the court heard, including a three-year sentence in Beenleigh District Court in 2011 and a four-year sentence suspended after serving 18 months handed down on May 24 last year, the court was told.
“By my calculation, this current (alleged) offending was committed not far out from when he was released on that sentence,” Ms Melksham said.
Mr Jones also has outstanding drug charges, including supply, in Beenleigh Magistrates Court later this month on September 9 and 23.
Defence lawyer Emma Kearney told the court Mr Jones’ placing of the money on the person of the two victims was done with the women’s consent.
She told the court her client was born in Tasmania, is a plumber by trade and is bipolar and schizophrenic.
Ms Kearney said her client had been pushed to the wall by a messy divorce in which his ex-wife had “drained (Mr Jones’) bank account”.
She denied her client had announced the armed robbery nor deliberately revealed the knife on his person.
Magistrate Michael O’Driscoll refused bail.
Mr Jones’ charges will be mentioned again in Beenleigh on October 21.