Former Palmo rugby player jailed for ‘terrifying’ bottle-o robbery

A former Palmerston rugby player who robbed a bottle shop with a meat cleaver is due to be released from prison next week.

A former Palmerston rugby player who robbed a bottle shop with a meat cleaver is due to be released from prison next week.

A FORMER Palmerston rugby player who swung a meat cleaver at a bottle shop worker during a “terrifying”, alcohol-fuelled robbery is due to be released from prison next week.

One time Palmerston Croc junior Roy Young, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to aggravated robbery after admitting to stealing a bottle of bourbon from the Yarrawonga bottle-o in January.

The court heard Young and another man were dropped off at the shop at about 9.30pm on January 21 before the other man stuck a bottle of bourbon down his pants and ran away.

Young then picked up a 1.75 litre bottle of bourbon before being confronted by a staff member who had seen the other man run off with the stolen grog.

When told the police were on their way, Young became aggressive and produced the 20cm cleaver and walked towards the staffer, swinging it at him as he backed away, before leaving the store.

In sentencing Young to two years and three months in prison, Justice Graham Hiley said while the victim did not provide a statement to the court, the attack “must have been terrifying”.

Justice Hiley said bottle-o workers “perform an important service to the community” and were “vulnerable to dishonest and violent people who are prepared to threaten them or inflict violence in order to steal things”.

“People may not be willing to do this kind of work for fear of being attacked,” he said.

“Consequently, if people don’t take on this sort of work, bottle shops, service stations and 24-hour shops may have to close, thus depriving the community of these important services.”

Justice Hiley said Young “may have problems with alcohol”, having started drinking at 15 following the death of his mother and a career-ending rugby injury and had shown genuine remorse.

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“You told your barrister that even though you do not remember the offending, you said, ‘I don’t do things like that, I can’t believe it did it’,” he said.

“You told the probation officer, ‘I’m sorry for what I did and I am ashamed of myself, I deserve to be locked up’.”

Young’s sentence was backdated to the day of his arrest in January and he is set to walk free from prison when his jail term is suspended on Thursday after serving six months behind bars.