Glen Waverley massage parlour robbery: Paul Robinson pleads guilty to armed robbery, assault
A former junior footy club volunteer bashed two women during a brutal armed robbery at a Glen Waverley massage parlour, with video showing the shop’s owner being subjected to a vile and degrading act … and her horror did not end there. WATCH
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A vile thug menaced and assaulted two women during a brutal and degrading armed robbery at a Glen Waverley massage parlour.
Paul Robinson, 31, was sentenced in the County Court last week to a minimum five years’ jail after pleading guilty to charges including armed robbery, assault and making a threat to kill.
Robinson, together with two other men, stormed the Hampshire Rd “relaxation massage business” on August 12 last year, the court heard.
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The thugs, who arrived in a stolen Lexus just after 3.30pm, menaced the parlour’s female owner and her younger female employee during the six-minute ordeal.
Robinson, armed with knuckledusters, another man armed with a meat-cleaver, and the third man repeatedly demanded cash.
The trio terrorised their victims and trashed the venue while they searched each room for cash and valuables.
Robinson prevented the owner from leaving the store, hit the woman’s face and ordered her to “shut the f*** up”, the court heard.
Robinson, a father, assaulted the woman again, dragged her along the floor then grabbed her around the neck and shoved to her to the ground.
one of the men then dragged the woman by the neck and stomped on her leg, Judge Patricia Riddell said.
The third menace smashed a mirror over the frightened woman’s head which left her bleeding, trembling and screaming, the court heard.
Robinson told the woman to “shut the f**k up c***” then threatened to kill her.
He ordered his crony to “stab her, f***ing stab her now”.
Robinson grabbed two eggs from the woman’s bar fridge and smashed them over her.
Robinson punched the younger victim after she was ordered to kneel on the ground.
He touched her face and said: “you’re very cute aren’t you”.
The third menace then smashed a chair over her head.
The thugs fled with cash, bank cards, an iPhone and the owner’s driver’s licence.
Her Reservoir home was ransacked and burgled later that evening where police recovered the meat-cleaver, the court heard.
Robinson and one of the other two men were arrested for unrelated offending the next day but both were bailed.
Police nabbed Robinson at his workplace on August 23.
He initially denied the offending but eventually copped to the armed robbery while also putting the finger on his co-accused.
Robinson told police he went along as “back-up” after meeting the other men at the pub.
The owner told police she “feared she will be killed”.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she temporarily closed her business to “recover from the horror” but now “always feels scared”.
“I find myself delirious sometimes,” she said.
Judge Riddell said the ordeal “must have felt like a lifetime to those two women”.
“(The robbery) was committed by three adult men at a venue that was likely to and did have female workers,” she said.
“Two of you were armed with weapons likely to induce fear of harm, they were in fact used to threaten and intimidate those women.”
Judge Riddell said “unnecessary and gratuitous acts” committed against “vulnerable victims” during “already frightening circumstances” aggravated the offending.
Judge Riddell said it was “reprehensible” Robinson was caught with items stolen from the victim’s home.
“That woman, already traumatised by the events in her business, was confronted by the fact that persons linked to those events had entered her private home and looted it,” she said.
“The fact that her home had been identified and specifically targeted must have left her feeling extremely anxious and fearful.”
Riddell said Robinson – a former volunteer at his daughter’s football club – received the “full benefit” for pleading guilty.
Robinson – who spent 299 days in custody – was jailed for a maximum seven years and seven months.
Robinson’s co-accused will chance his arm at trial pencilled in for May 2021.
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