Caroline Springs pizza bandit Tyson Wandel avoids jail for armed robbery spree

A promising footballer knocked over multiple pizza joints during a brazen crime spree which left staff and customers traumatised.

Slices Restaurant supervisor Ray Jalloul and manager Melanie Ayres after the robbery.

An armed thug who did over multiple Caroline Springs pizza restaurants, stealing cash, damaging property and terrorising staff and customers, has avoided jail.

Tyson Wandel, 20, was last month sentenced in the County Court to a three-year correction order after pleading guilty to two charges of armed robbery.

The court heard Wandel was the only one of the three offenders who attacked the pizza shops in August 2018 to have been tracked down for the crimes.

The group were wielding metal poles and a hammer when they barged into Pizza Hut Caroline Springs on the night of August 12, 2018.

One demanded keys to the safe and another forcibly removed the cash register, which contained about $1500, from the counter while Wandel smashed the cash register screen and front windows.

The court heard the group terrified employees and patrons.

The group stormed Slices restaurant less than two weeks later, on the night of August 23, walking in the front door with metal poles and a meat cleaver.

A mother and young girl hide underneath a table as thugs rampage through a Caroline Springs restaurant.

They yelled at patrons and smashed the light fittings and furniture with weapons while diners — including a seven-year-old girl and her parents — sheltered under tables.

One thug jumped over the counter and unsuccessfully tried to remove the cash register, getting away with an iPad instead.

The group stormed into Sydenham’s Wally’s Discount Liquor store 20 minutes later, confronting the employee who was holding a spanner.

The man threw the spanner at the thugs then grabbed a baseball bat from behind the counter and chased them from the store.

They fled in a stolen car.

Wandel was arrested at his friend’s Taylors Lakes house the following day, but managed to wipe all the data from his phone before police could get their hands on it.

He denied the crimes but made the mistake of admitting them to an undercover cop who was placed in the cells with him.

Wandel told the cop the group were wearing bandanas and had tasers with them.

The court heard the Melton South man was unemployed at the time and was a drug user who had been drawn in by negative peers.

Judge Scott Johns said Wandel’s “violent, antisocial and deplorable conduct” was extremely serious offending and had involved a degree of planning.

It was heard Wandel had no prior criminal record, and had worked to turn his life around in the two and a half years since he was bailed five days after his arrest.

Judge Johns noted Wandel was a good footballer and had the success at playing at a high level in his region.

Judge Johns agreed to keep Wandel out of jail to prioritise his rehabilitation, taking into account he had served five days.

“You’re very lucky you’re not being detained in a youth justice centre. Some judges might even jail you,” he told Wandel.

Wandel, who also pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, was ordered to perform 250 hours of unpaid community work.

[e-mail]