Ammar Al Batat: Armed robbery at Taylors Lake Lakeside Motel
A man was sleeping in a Taylors Lake motel, having just bedded his date, when he woke to a stranger holding a knife to his throat. And his attacker is not at all remorseful over the “terrifying” ordeal.
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A man who had just slept with his date in a Taylors Lake motel woke to an unknown man holding a knife to his throat.
The stranger said he would kill the man if he moved or talked, before he stole the victim’s watch, wallet, car keys and phone, which he then used to film the victim.
Ammar Al Batat was sentenced at the County Court on August 6 over the incident, having been locked up for almost 18 months since the incident.
The court heard the victim had met up with a woman, a friend of Al Batat, before the pair had sex at Lakeside Motel and fell asleep.
The victim woke early on February 12, 2019, to find Al Batat sitting next to the bed holding a flick knife.
Al Batat held the knife about 10cm from the victim’s throat, demanding he take off his watch and hand it over.
Al Batat then took the victim’s phone, instructing the victim to enter his password, before he used the phone to film the man.
The woman and Al Batat then argued in a language the victim could not understand, and Al Batat took the victim’s wallet and car keys from his pants’ pocket and went out to his car with the woman.
The court heard the victim followed them, but Al Batat told him to stay where he was.
The victim, who was wearing only underpants, ran away in fear and knocked on the door of a house about 2.30am.
The man who answered the door noted the victim was shaking, before police were called and took the victim back to the motel, where Al Batat was found leaving the motel room.
Police found him wearing the victim’s watch, and with the victim’s clothes in his car, cannabis in his bag and fraudulent number plates on his car.
Al Batat told police the woman was married with a child and had called him to bring food.
He denied threatening the victim, saying the man had run out without his clothes, thinking Al Batat was the woman’s husband.
The court heard the trial for the case had been put off until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Al Batat’s bail application had been denied.
Judge Fran Dalziel said Al Batat was not remorseful, still denying the offending, and had told a corrections officer he was only pleading guilty to the charges of armed robbery, making a threat to kill, possessing cannabis and using fraudulent number plates for practical reasons.
Judge Dalziel noted the benefit of the plea, and that Al Batat’s time in custody had been more onerous because of COVID-19 restrictions.
But she said the incident was by “no means” minor.
“The whole experience must have been terrifying,” Judge Dalziel said.
The court heard Al Batat, who was 23 at the time of the crime, witnessed traumatic events while growing up in Iraq, and had used methamphetamine and cannabis since a young age.
Judge Dalziel said she considered the need for deterrence and Al Batat’s rehabilitation in sentencing him to nine months’ jail, which had already been served, releasing him on an 18-month corrections order.
She said but for the plea, she would have ordered three years’ jail with a non-parole period of two years.
Al Batat was left with almost nine months ‘dead time’, which he spent in custody but was not sentenced to.
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