Mary Drollet charged over alleged southwest Sydney phone robberies
A young mum was struggling with a daily heroin habit when she allegedly helped her then-boyfriend violently rob several people, dragging two down the road as police say she wrenched phones from their hands.
Liverpool
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A young mother who allegedly accompanied her then-boyfriend on a violent robbery spree targeting people selling phones online in Sydney’s southwest was struggling with a daily heroin habit before she was remanded in custody.
Mary Anne Drollet, 25, spent Christmas behind bars after she was charged with three counts of aggravated robbery in company and one count of robbery in company over the alleged string of crimes.
Police allege Drollet, from Liverpool, helped Braden James Kerr, also 24, steal phones from unsuspecting victims in four different incidents between October and December last year in Campsie, Padstow, Mt Pritchard and Bankstown.
At the Supreme Court on Wednesday Drollet’s solicitor said it was Drollet’s first time in custody for a significant period.
“Having been in custody for four months has perhaps highlighted the need to remain drug-free,” Drollet’s solicitor told the court.
“She is very eager to support her elderly mother and to be there for her children, so the court might have some confidence she won’t revert to old ways.”
Justice Natalie Adams granted Drollet bail – saying whether she stayed out of jail was a matter for her.
“At the time of her arrest she had a heroin addiction and (it seems) she was committing offences with her then-partner in order to make money and feed her that habit,” Justice Adams said.
“It will be very difficult during this (coronavirus) lockdown for her to be loitering in the street associating with criminals and it will be a matter for Ms Drollet as to whether she seeks assistance for her drug problem.”
Drollet will be prohibited from taking illicit drugs and will be required to live with her mother in Liverpool as part of her bail conditions.
In the first incident, Drollet allegedly wrenched two phones from a 20-year-old woman who was dragged 30m down a Campsie street as Kerr attempted to drive away from the scene.
She was left with cuts to her arm, torso and legs after she let go of the phones.
A 23-year-old man was allegedly threatened before his phone was also stolen at a Padstow supermarket, before another man was also allegedly dragged down a Mt Pritchard street as Kerr drove away while Drollet stole the phones.
In the fourth and final alleged incident a 30-year-old man was allegedly assaulted and knocked to the ground before the pair allegedly also stole his phone.
At her first bail application at Liverpool Local Court in December Drollet’s Legal Aid solicitor said Drollet was “desperate to get off drugs” and had been smoking heroin daily for two to three months.