Man who robbed taxi driver at knifepoint in Bentleigh spared jail
A young man who robbed a taxi driver at knifepoint in Bentleigh earlier this year while high on a cocktail of drugs and alcohol has avoided jail time.
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A young man who robbed a taxi driver at knifepoint while high on a mixture of drugs and alcohol has avoided jail time.
Michael Horsfield, 25, pleaded guilty over the February 16 armed robbery which left long-time cabbie Con Georgopoulos suffering anxiety and nightmares.
Mr Georgopoulos was asleep in his taxi in Centre Rd, Bentleigh, about 3am when Horsfield knocked on the window and asked for a lift to Elwood.
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Once inside, he brandished a kitchen knife and demanded Mr Georgopoulos hand over cash.
The driver handed over $170 and Horsfield left the cab.
Horsfield was found to have been under the influence of cannabis, diazepam and alcohol at the time of offending.
The County Court also heard Horsfield has been very close with his father, whose death from cancer in 2006 had led to “significant psychological disturbance”, substance abuse and an increase in risk-taking behaviour.
Judge Irene Lawson said the incident was “towards the lower end of the scale of seriousness” for armed robberies and Horsfield — who has previously been found guilty on a number of charges by the Magistrates’ Court — had “excellent prospects of rehabilitation”.
“I consider that to imprison you now would be a retrograde step and would undo potentially all the steps you have taken to date to achieve sobriety and obtain employment and that would be quite tragic in your circumstances, where you are a young man who has a real future ahead of you,” she said.
Horsfield was sentenced to a three-year community corrections order, drug and alcohol treatment programs and 250 hours of community work.
The maximum sentence for armed robbery is 25 years in jail.
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