Sean Sonnet charged with Geelong armed robbery
The man who once aspired to be Carl Williams’ bodyguard has been charged over an armed robbery in a Geelong supermarket.
Police & Courts
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Carl Williams’ former associate Sean Sonnet is in jail after being arrested over an alleged armed robbery.
Mr Sonnet was nabbed by police on Saturday after an investigation into two stick ups in Newcomb, Geelong, in early January.
The 52-year-old was remanded in custody and will appear before Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Investigators allege Mr Sonnet attended a liquor store on the Bellarine Highway on Sunday, January 9, about 11.55am.
He allegedly threatened staff with a knife and made demands for money.
It’s alleged a witness who saw the incident challenged Mr Sonnet who fled the scene without any money.
Investigators believe Sonnet walked into a supermarket, again on the Bellarine Highway in Newcomb, the following day, Monday, January 10, about 8.50am.
He again allegedly threatened staff with a knife before fleeing, this time with a bundle of cash.
No-one was injured during the two incidents.
Mr Sonnet, from Whittington, was arrested at 3pm on Saturday and was charged with armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.
Mr Sonnet at one point in 2004 had aspired to be Williams’ bodyguard while the latter plotted to kill Carlton Crew member Mario Condello.
Condello would survive an initial plot to kill him only to become a victim of the gangland war in 2006.
There is no suggestion Mr Sonnet was involved in the 2006 hit.
His murder remains unsolved and several theories were investigated, including whether now dead hit man Rodney Collins was the contracted hit man who gunned down Condello in his Brighton driveway.
Carl Williams, Tony Mokbel and the mafia were all probed over Condello’s killing.
The one-time gym junkie was a promising suburban footballer in his teenage years but a leg injury prematurely ended his playing days.
In the decades since, Mr Sonnet has been known to Victoria Police.
His links with Williams and others in that crew brought the spotlight on him in 2004, with the former anti-gangland Purana taskforce closely monitoring him for weeks during that period before arresting him outside Brighton cemetery.
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