‘Don’t do anything or I’ll stab you’: Man pleads guilty to terrifying knifepoint home invasion

A DARWIN man has pleaded guilty to committing a terrifying home invasion where he emerged from an unsuspecting couple’s bedroom with a large knife

• Tyson Johnston, 20, in court on 13 charges

A YOUNG Darwin man has pleaded guilty to committing a terrifying home invasion during which he emerged from an unsuspecting couple’s bedroom with a large knife before forcing one of them into a car at knifepoint.

Tyson Johnston, aged 20 at the time of the offending, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Supreme Court on Tuesday to five offences, including armed robbery, unlawful entry and obtaining a benefit by deception, following the attack in February 2020.

The court heard Johnston let himself into a house in Palmerston while its occupants had popped out.

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When they returned, Johnston emerged from a bedroom with a T-shirt over his face and brandishing a knife with a 30cm blade.

“Don’t move or I’ll cut you,” the court heard he told them.

“The cops are after me, did you see the news?”

The victims tried to calm him down, fetching him water, iced coffee and even a change of clothes before Johnston demanded they hand over their mobile phones and used them to make various phone calls.

Tyson Johnston has pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to a raft of offences. Picture: Facebook

When a car pulled up outside the house, Johnston told one of the victims “you’re coming with me” and forced him into the car with the blade in the victim’s back. “Don’t do anything silly or I’ll stab you,” he told the victim.

While in the car with the victim, the court heard Johnston stole a further $700 in cash from the victim’s pockets as well as his wallet and gold necklace worth $2500.

The victim was eventually let go with Johnston telling him “If you go to the police … we will kill you.”

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Johnston was arrested at a residence in Berrimah after withdrawing a significant amount of cash with the victim’s bank card and transferred money from the victim’s bank account into his own using his phone.

The total theft was of more than $7000.

When he was arrested, the court heard that Johnston told police he was “off his head” from “whacking with amphetamine”. Johnston will return to court for sentencing on April 28.

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