Getaway driver Brittney Perrin sentenced to time served and a community correction order

An old woman suffered paranoia and mood swings after a knife was held to her throat during a terrifying attempted armed robbery at a Mitcham IGA.

An 81-year-old woman, who had a knife held to her throat during a bungled armed robbery in Mitcham, was only just becoming settled in her new home.

The former Surrey Hills woman was convinced by her family to move to Mitcham to be closer to them after her husband died the County Court heard.

A victim impact statement tendered by the woman’s son and read out by Judge David Sexton noted the woman, Ruby, took much convincing to move from the home she’d lived in for 50 years.

She’d only recently started to feel settled in her new neighbourhood when she was attacked by a heroin-addicted man while shopping at the Mitcham IGA.

During the November 2017 incident, the offender held a knife to her throat before fleeing empty-handed. The court head she became anti-social, angry and afraid to walk the streets.

She also grew paranoid and thought people were prank calling her phone and trying to access her bank accounts, Judge Sexton told the court.

He noted the armed robber, Michael Sharp, was jailed last September for five years and eight months, with a non-parole period of three years and seven months, for the attempted robbery and a successful armed robbery later that same day at a nearby 7-Eleven.

In sentencing the getaway driver, 24-year-old single mother of two Brittney Perrin, Judge Sexton said Perrin suffered post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from abuse she suffered at the hands of Sharp, her boyfriend at the time of the offending.

He also said she had no prior criminal record.

He noted her ability to play a positive role in her children’s life was “clouded” due to her recent relapse into heroin use and susceptibility to destructive relationships.

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He said she presented as a woman with “considerable vulnerability” and a jail term would weigh heavily upon her and her two daughters.

“These crimes, by their very nature, are inherently violent. The victims of such crimes invariably are soft targets, such as the victims in this case,” he said.

“However, in my view, to ignore your personal history and underlying psychological fragility … would be unrealistic and unfair. You certainly present, in my view, as a person of considerable vulnerability and I have little doubt that a term of imprisonment would weigh very heavily upon you in relation to the welfare of your young daughters.”

Perrin was sentenced to a 28-day jail term, equivalent to time served, as well as a three-year community correction order.