Barry John Hixon and Christopher Peter Mark Bowmaker held gun to a taxi driver in armed robbery

Drunk and high on methamphetamines, two men held a taxi driver at gunpoint for 1.5 hours while they continued to look for more drugs. Read here the mistakes the armed robbers made.

A taxi driver was held at gunpoint.

The armed robbery of a Rockhampton taxi driver by two men who were intoxicated and high on drugs has been described as “quite poorly executed” by a judge.

Judge Jeff Clarke made the remark during the sentencing of armed robbers Barry John Hixon, 40, and Christopher Peter Mark Bowmaker, 38, on October 12.

Hixon and Bowmaker had pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court on October 5 to one count of armed robbery in company.

Hixon also pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of liberty.

The pair was drunk and high on methamphetamines when they held a taxi driver at gunpoint, making him drive them across Rockhampton aimlessly for 1.5 hours in search of more drugs.

Judge Clarke said the protracted and prolonged armed robbery “must have been a thoroughly terrifying experience for this young man”, referring to the driver, and that the protracted and prolonged offence was “quite poorly executed”.

“You both obviously didn’t think or know that what you were doing was being recorded both in audio and visually,” he said.

Judge Clarke said Bowmaker used Hixon’s phone to call the taxi and gave a false name, however, he was later identified in CCTV from the taxi due to his “distinctive facial tattoos”.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said Bowmaker called for the taxi to pick him up from a location in Gracemere about 3.30am on July 22, 2021, and then picked Hixon up.

Judge Clarke said Hixon was waiting only a few metres up the road.

Mr Sutton said the pair had the driver take them towards Rockhampton “seemingly with no address in mind”.

He said after arriving at a location, the driver demanded payment.

Judge Clarke said Bowmaker told the driver he was paying until they were driven back to Gracemere.

Bowmaker pulled out a black gun and pointed it at the driver’s stomach and demanded he give them money, which was only $100 he had stashed in his top pocket.

Mr Sutton said at some stage during the 1.5 hour ordeal, Bowmaker left the taxi and Hixon then brandished the weapon.

Mr Sutton said Hixon’s deprivation of liberty offence was for when he demanded the driver take he and Bowmaker back to Gracemere.

He said at some point during the trip, the offenders had the driver take them to a location along Musgrave Street in North Rockhampton before heading back towards Gracemere.

He also said during the drive back to Gracemere, the offenders changed their minds and had the driver take them to a Glenmore address.

While en route back to Gracemere, the driver pulled over on Yaamba Road, in front of Rockhampton Crematorium, to vomit and took the keys and made a run for it.

The driver then called a friend for help about 5am.

He said the offending was captured on CCTV, with audio, inside the taxi.

The gun was never located and Bowmaker told police when he was arrested that it was a replica and he had been provoked by the taxi driver.

The Crown did not accept the driver provoked the offenders.

Judge Jeff Clarke asked if replica guns made loading noises, as per the documents provided to him.

Mr Sutton said he did not know.

He said the victim feared the gun and retribution.

Before the armed robbery, the driver felt safe in his job but no longer did and had tried, unsuccessfully, to have his work roster changed.

Bowmaker’s defence barrister Maree Wiley said neither of the offenders “set out in the early hours of the morning with the intention of robbing a taxi driver” and they had not tried to conceal their identities.

Judge Clarke asked why were they out at 3.30am with a gun.

Ms Wiley said she was instructed their intention was to go to see someone about drugs.

She said her client was the offender in the front seat of the taxi, producing the gun and making threats.

However, Ms Wiley said: “it was a joint enterprise”.

Bowmaker was intoxicated and had consumed meth on the night of the robbery and his mental health had been “unstable”, according report from two weeks before the offence.

He had been subject to an emergency examination order days prior after overdosing.

Ms Wiley said her client had a “particularly disadvantaged” and traumatic childhood with mental health reports referring to complex developmental trauma experiences.

She also said he had longstanding mental health issues and had been diagnosed with unstable personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive episodes.

Bowmaker instructed he intended to “abstain from drugs”, engage with Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs Services and reconnect with his 18-year-old son, along with plans to undertake some volunteer work.

He intended to live with his mother and grandmother, who were in court in his support, upon release from prison.

Hixon’s defence barrister Sheridan Shaw said her client had a difficult childhood and left school during year nine.

She said he had been a productive member of society – from his work history – and had a job lined up when he was released from prison on a Roma property undertaking cultural heritage assessment and monitoring.

The time Hixon spent on remand for this offence was the longest he had spent in prison during his extensive criminal history.

Hixon’s seven-page Queensland criminal record largely consisted of convictions for property, drugs and violent offences since 1997, but there were no prior convictions for robbery with violence.

His NSW record included multiple assaults occasioning bodily harm convictions and stalking.

Ms Shaw said Hixon had “prospects of rehabilitation if he can tackle his drug use”.

The same had been said for the co-accused whose history was mostly linked to his drug use.

Mr Sutton said Bowmaker’s nine-page Queensland criminal record included convictions for armed robbery in company in 2015 where he and a co-offender entered a store and robbed it, getting away with $450, while Bowmaker was armed with a knife and a blood-filled syringe.

He also said Bowmaker also had a six-page NSW criminal record with convictions for drugs, possessing knives in public places and dishonesty offences.

The court heard both Bowmaker and Hixon had written letters of apology to their victim.

Judge Clarke sentenced Bowmaker to 5.5 years prison and declared 435 days presentence custody with parole eligibility set for June 3, 2023.

He sentenced Hixon to five years prison, declared 258 days presentence custody as time served and set parole eligibility for January 24, 2023.

Originally published as Barry John Hixon and Christopher Peter Mark Bowmaker held gun to a taxi driver in armed robbery