Zaine Ritter: Ipswich man jailed for attempted armed robbery

An Ipswich man armed with a knife and knuckledusters attempted to rob a man he believed owed him a drug debt, a court has heard.

An Ipswich man on parole armed with a knife and knuckledusters alongside an associate attempted to rob a man they believed owed them a drug debt, a court has heard.

Goodna man Zaine Rodger Ritter, 27, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Wednesday to three counts, attempted armed robbery in company, possessing tainted property and possessing a Category A/B/M weapon.

The court heard the victim in the matter was an associate who Ritter and a co-accused believed owed them a drug debt.

Ritter was arrested and remanded in pre-sentence custody on July 31 last year, where he has remained since, a period of nearly a year.

Goodna man Zaine Rodger Ritter, 27. Picture: Facebook

The court heard this was his second major period incarcerated in the past few years, with Ritter sentenced on February 19 last year to three years’ imprisonment with immediate parole, having spent 384 days previously remanded in pre-sentence custody.

He was therefore on parole during the commission of the current offences.

Defence counsel Kim Bryson told the court Ipswich-born Ritter was a former vice-captain of his primary school and educated to Year 9 at Laidley State High School, at which point he left to take up employment at the Rocklea markets.

Following that, he worked at metal polishing and import businesses, where he was introduced to an older, drug-using crowd.

He was hooked on cannabis at 18 and methamphetamine at 23, Ms Bryson said.

Ritter had been drug-free, but relapsed following his February 2020 sentence after commencing a relationship with a drug-using woman, the court heard.

Ms Bryson submitted the armed robbery was less serious as the knuckledusters were in Ritter’s pocket and the knife hadn’t been removed from its package.

Ritter, a father-of-two, attempted to remove the knife from its package during his confrontation with the man who allegedly owed him a debt.

He was sentenced to two years and nine months’ imprisonment and will be eligible for parole on October 31, 2022.

Originally published as Zaine Ritter: Ipswich man jailed for attempted armed robbery