Nude photo request prompts bizarre hold-up by lesbian couple
A lesbian couple who used a henchman to help them rob a shoe salesman were trying to seek revenge after the salesman asked one of the women for naked photos of her girlfriend.
Police & Courts
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A lesbian couple enlisted a strongman to join them in the armed robbery of a shoe salesman sparked by a nude photo request.
Amber Saddington, 24, wanted revenge on the victim after he sold her fake Nike sneakers and asked to see naked pictures of her 20-year-old girlfriend, Brianna Kootstra-Denton.
She had previously bought shoes from the man on Facebook marketplace.
But, enraged at his request to show him photos of her lover, on June 19 last year Saddington arranged to meet the man again, claiming she wanted to buy his remaining stock of shoes.
Instead, she turned up at the meeting point in Frankston with a knife-wielding muscleman, who put the 20cm blade to the shoe seller’s neck, while Saddington and Kootstra-Denton grabbed eight pairs of shoes from his car and fled.
The couple were arrested at their home the next day, with police finding the stolen shoes throughout the house. The henchman has not been identified, with both women refusing to “lag”, saying they were scared to give his name.
County Court judge Susan Pullen said the facts of the case were “the most serious and disturbing”, with the victim now nervous and scared to leave his home.
She said Saddington was motivated “to get back at the victim for his inappropriate behaviour” and admitted to police she was the instigator of the plan and that it was “a dumb thing to do”.
But Judge Pullen said both women should face the same sentence, as Kootstra-Denton went along with it.
She gave the pair a stern warning saying if they had not pleaded guilty to armed robbery she would have jailed them for five years and set a non-parole period of three.
“Bloody hell,” one of the women could be heard saying at that prospect.
Judge Pullen said Saddington and Kootstra-Denton’s lack of criminal history and the fact they were not holding the weapon made them suitable for a community corrections order.
She ordered the pair be of good behaviour for three years, complete 200 hours of unpaid community work and undergo drug and mental health treatment.
If they did not comply, she warned they could expect time behind bars. “I don’t accept excuses,” Judge Pullen said.
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