Court of Appeal increases Shane Hodgson’s sentence for robbing Ferntree Gully Bowling Club

A violent thug on parole who robbed and menaced a Ferntree Gully bowling club’s staff and customers at gunpoint has had his sentence increased, with horrifying details of his victims’ ordeal heard in court.

Hodgson has had his sentence increased for an armed robbery at Ferntree Gully Bowling Club.

A man who terrorised Ferntree Gully Bowling Club staff and customers with a shotgun while he was on parole for committing a similar armed robbery at Box Hill Golf Club has had his sentence increased.

The Court of Appeal found the original sentence handed to Shane Hodgson for the planned armed robbery in August 2016 was “manifestly inadequate” for the seriousness of the crime and the 24-year-old’s history of violent offending.

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Having initially been given five years and five months’ jail, with a non-parole period of three years and four months, Hodgson was dealt a new sentence last week of seven years and six months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years and six months.

Hodgson was on bail for an armed robbery at Box Hill Golf Club when he committed the offence.

When reviewing Hodson’s case at the request of the DPP, justices Stephen Kaye, Richard Niall and Mark Weinberg found the sentence he was handed in the County Court in May 2018 “was wholly outside the range of sentences reasonably open to be imposed”.

“The respondent had a relevant, and appalling, criminal record and his offending with firearms had shown no signs of abating,” the justices said.

The Court of Appeal heard Hodgson was 22 years old when he and an accomplice donned disguises and entered Ferntree Gully Bowling Club about 10.30am on August 18, 2016.

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Wearing a black balaclava and gloves, Hodgson pointed a double-barrelled shotgun at the female manager’s chest and pulled the trigger, making a clicking sound but not firing the gun, before taking her to the club’s office.

His accomplice, who was brandishing a machete, threatened patrons while Hodgson stole cash from the safe and cash register.

The club’s CCTV footage of the approximately three-minute incident, which the court described as “confronting viewing”, showed Hodgson repeatedly thrusting the barrel of the gun close to the woman’s chest and face and “moving his thumb in a cocking motion” at least once.

Hodgson used a shotgun to intimidate and terrify his victims.

The crime was committed while Hodgson was on youth parole for an incident on March 2, 2014, when he and the same accomplice wore disguises and carried shotguns as they held up Box Hill Golf Club, stealing a significant amount of cash.

The court heard these two offences followed a number of offences in 2013 and 2014 in which Hodgson stormed houses armed with guns and assaulted occupants, demanding cash and drugs.

The 24-year-old is yet to be sentenced on an aggravated burglary he committed three weeks after the Ferntree Gully armed robbery.

Taking into account the man’s disadvantaged background and mental illness, and the fact that he pleaded guilty on the third day of his hearing for the Ferntree Gully incident, the justices ruled Hodgson had deserved a longer sentence.

They reiterated the importance of protecting the community in their sentencing.