Mason George Durran pleads guilty to milk bar armed robbery in Leopold

A Bellarine teenager armed with a screwdriver made off with $20 in a “negotiated settlement” after an unfazed milk bar worker refused his initial demands and questioned why she should hand over anything.

Mason Durran leaving Geelong law courts following the sentencing on Monday.

An Indented Heads teenager held up a Leopold milk bar with a screwdriver for $20, a court has heard.

Mason George Durran, 19, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Monday before Judge Geoffrey Chettle and pleaded guilty to armed robbery and a summary charge of possessing an imitation firearm.

Crown prosecutor Raphael de Vietri told the court Durran, then 18, entered the Highland Milk Bar on Highland Way, Leopold, about 4.30pm on May 13 last year and selected a drink before putting back and leaving the store.

He returned twice more, on the third occasion he selected a drink from the fridge and took it to the counter, before telling a 44-year-old woman behind the counter to give him “all your money from the register”.

“No,” the woman replied.

The apprentice plumber pulled a screwdriver out of his pocket, the court heard, and repeated his demand for money.

“Why?” the woman responded.

Durran said he needed money, and began to “hold the weapon in clear view of (the victim)”, Mr de Vietri told the court.

The woman told Durran he could have $20, which he accepted before leaving the store – a “negotiated settlement” Judge Chettle quipped during the hearing.

The court heard detectives raided Durran’s home two days later and found a gel blaster imitation firearm.

Both the prosecution and defence submitted a community corrections order (CCO) was the appropriate sentence in Durran’s case.

Barrister Georgia Suhren, for Durran, told the court her client’s youth, early plea of guilty, lack of prior history and good prospects of rehabilitation warranted such an outcome.

Ms Suhren said Durran’s use of cannabis had escalated prior to the incident, but he had remained abstinent since.

Judge Chettle convicted Durran, who was supported in court by his father and step-mother, and placed the teenager on an 18-month CCO, with 150 hours of unpaid community work.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Chettle said Durran was experiencing “severe psychological disruption” at the time of the robbery.

Durran was a long-term sufferer of anxiety and depression, and several incidents had occurred in the lead-up to the crime that aggravated those conditions, Judge Chettle said, to the point that Durran was suicidal.

These included his motor vehicle being damaged, putting him in debt he “couldn’t deal with” and having a number of tools stolen out of the back of his car.

Judge Chettle said there was “a certain irony” in Durran turning to robbery himself, given he found the theft of his tools to be “most disturbing”.

Nonetheless, Judge Chettle found Durran’s prospects of rehabilitation were reasonable, if not good, but noted a CCO was “not a soft option” and Durran faced jail if be breached it.

The teenager’s offending was “unsophisticated and immature” and his behaviour “somewhat naive”, Judge Chettle said, and while his mental health issues persisted, he was medicated, had stable employment and had a supportive family.

Judge Chettle said but for the guilty plea, he would have jailed Durran for at least a year.

Originally published as Mason George Durran pleads guilty to milk bar armed robbery in Leopold