Nicholas Coelho: Armed Dominos driver robber finds out fate

A Berkeley man who robbed a pizza delivery driver while high on ice has been sentenced in Wollongong District Court.

An ice-fuelled Berkeley man who robbed a Dominos delivery driver with a screwdriver avoided being sent to jail after fronting Wollongong District Court on Friday.

Judge Julia Baly sentenced Nicholas Coelho to a one-year and 11-month intensive corrections order for the “opportunistic crime” of robbery while armed with an offensive weapon nearly one year ago.

Judge Baly described the crime as one of “limited violence, but the threat of it” and it was an example of an individual ”after quick cash to get food” as she also imposed an order that the 33-year-old complete 300 hours of community service.

The incident happened in Oak Flats shortly before 11pm on Friday, June 18, 2021, when Coelho drove his black Volkswagen Golf up to the Shellharbour Dominos workers‘ car and gestured to speak to him.

The victim, a masters student from the University of Wollongong, rolled down the window of the company Toyota Yaris before Coelho said “Hey buddy, can you give me $10 for some Dominos?”

Berkeley man Nicholas Coelho leaving Wollongong District Court on Friday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

The victim said “[The money] is not mine, it‘s our company money so I can’t give it to you,” before Coelho told the driver he’d seen him stash a wad of cash in a blue-zipped float.

Coelho pulled a screwdriver out and pointed it out his window and said: “I’m serious. Get me the money. I saw you getting it. I’ll count to 10 or else I will hit you”.

The victim started to panic and handed over $10 before Coelho demanded “Give me all of it” which led the petrified casual pizza driver to hand over the rest of the money in the float for a total of around $50.

The victim was so scared that after he called his manager to report the theft, he started driving without his headlights on so the offender wouldn‘t spot him.

Police located Coelho in Berkeley less than an hour later when he told them: “I‘m just on ice officer”.

Coelho told police he‘d pulled over in Oak Flats and was smoking meth when he targeted the “vulnerable” victim.

The officers located the screwdriver in the side compartment of the Golf along with an assortment of Dominos vouchers and a McDonald‘s Quarter Pounder which Coelho had purchased with the stolen cash from Figtree Macca’s.

Nicholas Coelho bought a Quarter Pounder from Figtree McDonald's with the money he stole.

He was arrested on the spot and taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station where in an interview he said he “didn’t touch [the victim] or anything”, and that he “wasn’t ever going to hurt him”.

“I am not a bad person. I was just hungry. I haven’t eaten. I have been good,“ Coelho also told police.

“My family needs me. My mother and father are elderly. It was not like I was armed with anything bad. I had the screwdriver like this up my arm.“

In court on Friday, Coelho said he no longer felt an “urge” to take ice and that he was ”ashamed and embarrassed” by his actions.

Coelho‘s sister and soon to be brother-in-law spoke in support of him and said he could “barely look them in the eyes” when they picked him up after spending 13 days in custody.

Nicholas Coelho was sentenced to a one year and 11 month ICO. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“He‘s a completely changed man without illicit substances,” his sister told the court.

“It‘s been an extremely long road for him and for the family.”

The Crown pointed to Coelho being on a CCO at the time of the offence as well as a similar crime committed in 2007 as key reasons why a full-time custodial sentence was required.

However, Judge Baly accepted Coelho was a man who had “effectively rehabilitated himself” and there was no justification to send him to prison.

Judge Baly warned Coelho any offending up until May 10, 2024 would likely see him locked up.