Laughlan Brookes: Malabar man’s Nowra machete robbery revealed

A man armed with a machete who demanded a woman hand over her jewellery in the dead of night on the NSW south coast, is set for sentencing in the District Court.

Laughlan Brookes, 24, will be sentenced in Nowra District Court after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery after using a machete to threaten a woman in her home. (File picture: iStock)

A man who broke into a woman’s south coast bedroom in the dead of night, demanding jewellery and her handbag while wielding a 60cm machete, is set to be sentenced for the robbery.

Laughlan Brookes, 24, faced the Nowra District Court on Monday after previously pleading guilty to aggravated robbery.

Documents tendered to the court reveal the Malabar man entered a Nowra home on the evening of November 8 last year, while armed with a 60cm long, rusty machete with tape around the handle.

Agreed facts state the 41-year-old woman whose house Brookes entered was known to the man.

Brookes – who is in custody at the South Coast Correctional Centre – opened the female victim’s bedroom door, according to court documents, with the door opening waking her up.

Laughlan Brookes’ matter was heard in the Nowra District Court.

The 24-year-old then demanded jewellery from the woman while holding the machete.

“Give me all your jewellery,” Brooke said, according to the agreed facts.

She told him she didn’t have any, before he demanded to go through her handbag.

The victim gave Brookes the bag and he removed her Samsung smart phone.

Agreed facts state Brookes then demanded the woman remove her watch and give it to him, which she did.

Before leaving, Brookes took a bottle of port from the kitchen.

The female victim then visited the Nowra police station where she reported the robbery.

Brookes was arrested by Nowra police the following day after they found him hiding in the rooftop of a Numbaa Way, Nowra home.

Brookes was arrested and taken to the Nowra police station where he was charged.

He was refused bail the same day in Nowra Local Court.

In the Nowra District Court on Monday, Brookes’ lawyer Emma Harrison said her client was ready for sentencing, suggesting August 12 and noting the sentencing would take an hour.

Judge Jennifer English adjourned the matter by one week for sentencing, where Brookes will be present in court.

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