Rebecca Kaelyn Ross: Woman calls triple-0 to report own armed robbery

A woman who held a 65-year-old staff member at knifepoint while demanding cash claims she tried to stop her own terrifying crime. Read full details here.

A woman was so desperate to stop herself carrying out a terrifying armed robbery that she called triple-0 to report the incident moments before she did it, a court has been told.

Rebecca Kaelyn Ross targeted the Coles Express service station on Ferry Rd, Southport on February 20 last year.

Southport District Court was told she picked up several items and went to the counter, where she pulled out a large knife and pointed it at the 65-year-old employee.

Prosecutor Zoë Brereton said Ross demanded cash from the older woman, who handed over $20 from the till.

She said the 21-year-old suddenly stabbed the perspex security screen with the knife and repeated that she was desperate for money.

Ross was given the remaining $170 in the store’s till and fled the store the court was told.

Ms Brereton said Ross called triple-0 from a nearby payphone just before the incident, saying she was having a psychotic episode and wanted to rob a business.

Coles Express on Ferry Rd, Southport. Picture: Jerad Williams

Ross handed herself in to the Surfers Paradise police station later that day.

“She admitted to using a knife in the robbery, and said she threw the money in a creek near the store,” Ms Brereton said.

Ross targeted a Calamvale service station in a similar robbery only weeks earlier on December 17, 2021.

The court was told Ross approached the counter and handed the 67-year-old employee a handwritten note, which said: “Look, I’m sorry to do this, but I’m hungry. I have a knife in my pants, so just hand me the money and nothing will happen.”

Ross again became angry when the staff member refused her, drawing the blade and smashing it into the security screen and Eftpos machine.

She eventually made off with $80, but surrendered herself to police the next day.

Parts of one of the victim’s impact statements were read to the court, revealing she was “still terrified” and had suffered constant anxiety since the robbery.

Ross spent a combined four days in custody following her two arrests.

She was arrested on a fresh attempted robbery charge earlier this month and remained in custody at her court appearance on Tuesday.

The court was told Ross was diagnosed with chronic depression and autism, and had battled various drug addictions since she was 17.

Defence barrister Halley Robertson said her client was negatively influenced by an “anti-social peer network” at the time, and had since worked with her NDIS support team and therapists to begin rehabilitation.

She said Ross also remained close with her parents, who supported her in court.

“I understand she has interests in music and photography, and she is trying to access those prosocial activities,” Ms Robertson said.

Judge Deborah Holliday said Ross’ youth and never having a conviction recorded weighed in her favour, but warned there would be serious consequences for reoffending.

“If you breach the order … there is nothing a barrister can say for you,” Judge Holliday said.

“You will be taken immediately into custody, likely to serve out the entirety of that sentence.”

Ross pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and one of wilful damage.

She was sentenced to a suspended three-and-a-half-year jail term, and a concurrent three years’ jail with immediate parole release.

The attempted robbery charge will next be mentioned in Brisbane Magistrates Court on March 20.