Luke Roberts and Laura Vickery: Logan man robbed at gunpoint by masked meth-addicts

A Logan man was watching TV when armed robbers burst in, took $25,000 worth of valuables and threatened to kill him. As the gun was held to his head, the man realised he recognised one of them …

Two people who stormed into a Logan home and robbed a man at gunpoint have been sentenced to prison.

Luke Roberts, 39, and Laura Vickery, 28, had only known each other for a few days when they decided to band together and rob Roberts’ former colleague to pay off a drug debt.

The pair, who appeared at their sentencing at Beenleigh District Court on Wednesday, were both heavily addicted to methamphetamine at the time, with Vickery describing the day of the offence as a complete blur.

The woman used a revolver during the robbery.

Roberts had visited the victim’s home at Shailer Park on a social call two weeks’ prior to the offence and scoped out a safe, located in the garage, the court heard.

The safe contained gold and keys to a vintage Pontiac, a Harley Davidson motorbike with an estimated value of $20,000 and a Holden Colorado ute.

According to the crown prosecutor, Roberts, Vickery and a third offender were wearing dark clothing and face coverings when they entered the garage of the home through a partially opened door at 6.45pm on January 7, 2020.

The victim was sitting in a lounge chair, watching TV.

Roberts was unarmed, Vickery held a revolver and the third person, a man, had a hammer in his back pocket.

The offenders silently pointed towards the safe, indicating to the victim they wanted him to open it.

The pair appeared at the Beenleigh Courthouse on Wednesday.

When the victim rose from his chair, however, they panicked, each yelling directions at him at the same time, while Vickery pointed her gun at him.

With the revolver pushed against his back, the victim walked over to the safe and opened it.

The crown prosecutor told the court it was unclear which offender then pushed the victim to the ground and held a gun against his head as the other two ransacked the home, throwing his belongings across the floor.

“(A man) told us you had drugs and money, where is it?” one of the offenders threatened the victim, according to details read by His Honour Judge Michael Williamson QC.

“If you don’t tell us, we’ll kill you.”

Both Vickery and Roberts suffered from a severe addiction to meth.

Roberts and Vickery bagged a wallet with $120 worth of cash inside it, an iPhone, jackets, three motorcycle helmets, gold, jewellery and alcohol.

Using the keys located in the safe, Roberts decamped on the Harley Davidson (after he forced the victim to show him how to start it), Vickery drove off in the Pontiac and the third offender took off in the ute.

The victim identified Roberts in a statement to police, and he was arrested on January 10 at his home at Waterford West.

Police located the revolver in Roberts’ car, though it was not suggested he touched or possessed the gun at any time.

Vickery was linked to the crime with forensic evidence and arrested the same day.

She was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, MDMA, a glass pipe, live rounds of .22 ammunition, a knuckle duster, a hunting knife, a throwing knife, a pocket knife, a selection of stolen car registration plates and MSM, an additive commonly used to cut and alter the potency of dangerous drugs.

The pair have each been held in police custody for 467 days, serving just upwards of 15 months in declarable pre-sentence custody.

Vickery, who hails from Armidale, NSW, pleaded guilty to 16 charges and received a head sentence of 5 and a half years imprisonment with immediate parole eligibility.

Roberts, a father of two, pleaded guilty to five charges and received a head sentence of five years imprisonment with immediate parole eligibility.

Due to a six month backlog at the parole office, they’re unlikely to be released for several months.

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