The Entrance armed robbery: Heath Roe-Goolagong’s AFL career ruined by drugs, a court hears
How a man went from winning Victoria’s statewide Under 18 AFL league’s Best & Fairest award at just 16 to holding up an ice cream shop at The Entrance armed with a PlayStation gun.
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Heath Roe-Goolagong was a prodigious AFL talent who at the age of just 16 lost a grand final with the Geelong Falcons but was named the Victorian league’s Under 18 Best & Fairest for the season.
He “played well” in the losing side and his professional AFL career looked almost assured given the level of interest being shown by scouts from the Essendon Bombers.
But just one night of drunken partying, when he was offered cannabis and ecstasy, was enough to see the promising footballer “walk away” from the game he loved and all but ruin his life, a court has heard.
Roe-Goolagong appeared via video link at Gosford District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to robbery armed with a dangerous weapon and two counts of attempted armed robbery.
The court heard Roe-Goolagong held up the Cold Rock Ice-Creamery at The Entrance on March 4, 2020, where he yelled “get the money, get the money now” before making off with between $600-$700.
Three weeks later on March 23 Roe-Goolagong tried to hold up the In Thai restaurant at Berkeley Vale but was chased out by a staff member who armed themselves with a mop.
About 15 minutes later, shortly after 7pm, he tried an almost identical robbery at Big Nick’s Gourmet Kebabs at Long Jetty but again fled without any cash.
The court heard Roe-Goolagong grew up in country Victoria where he was selected for the representative Geelong Falcons’ Under 18s side and won the league’s Best & Fairest at just 16.
Giving evidence Roe-Goolagong said it wasn’t long after the grand final when he was drinking at a party and was offered cannabis and ecstasy.
Within weeks “it went to every day” and he “walked away” from footy before moving to NSW and adopting a life of crime, which saw him released on parole in 2019 after serving time for aggravated car theft.
He had nearly a year left on parole when he went straight back onto the “ice” and held up the Cold Rock Ice-Creamery on a whim because “I needed the money”.
He said his deadly weapon was “a plastic PlayStation pistol” he painted black.
Roe-Goolagong’s barrister told the court his client, now aged 29, had a promising future “until he went to that party” and illicit drugs took hold almost immediately.
Acting Judge Gregory Woods said drugs “ruined his football career and it has gone a considerable distance to ruining his life” before sentencing Roe-Goolagong to six years jail with a non-parole period of three and a half years.
With time served since his arrest Roe-Goolagong will first be eligible for release on March 23, 2024.
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