Kyle James Dale Hibbins and Chelsea Jo Leak admit to roles in dating app scam armed robbery

Using a ‘sugar daddy’ dating site to lure him to a public toilet, a group violently robbed a man and left him with spinal fractures. Now two of the people involved have fronted court.

Two of three people involved in an online dating app scam which ended in the violent armed robbery of a 29-year-old man in a Queens Park toilet have been placed on two years probation.

Kyle James Dale Hibbins, 19, and Chelsea Jo Leak, 21, were in a relationship when a 19-year-old woman friend of theirs had engaged the victim via the dating website SugarDaddyMeet in October 2022.

Their woman friend eventually arranged to meet the man at a toilet block in Queens Park on October 21 on the premise that two women would meet him there for $500, Toowoomba District Court heard.

While the purpose of the meeting was not made clear to the court, Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC said it appeared some form of sexual activity was expected to take place.

Kyle James Hibbins and Chelsea Jo Leak leaving Toowoomba Courthouse after being sentenced for armed robbery, Friday, September 1, 2023.

Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court the victim man arrived at the toilet block and laid out two towels on the floor before Leak and the other woman, having been driven there by Hibbins, walked in.

The other woman asked to see the money which the man counted out in front of them prompting the other woman to demand the cash or they would yell that they were being raped, she said.

A scuffle between the man and the woman ensued during which he had yelled that he was being robbed and the two women screamed they were being raped.

Hibbins had then grabbed a bottle from the car and ran to the toilet block where he found the other three involved in a scuffle and he had struck the man with the bottle to the back of his head, Ms Friedewald said.

After the victim fell to the floor, he was kicked and punched by Hibbins and the other woman.

Hibbins asked the man where the money was and was told the women had it.

Despite the women confirming that, Hibbins had again kicked and stomped on the man before the group left, the other woman having also taken the man’s jacket and phone which Hibbins later threw out of the car window, she said.

Kyle James Hibbins chats with friends as he leaves Toowoomba Courthouse after being sentenced for armed robbery, Friday, September 1, 2023.

Police spoke to the trio five days later and Leak and Hibbins had made full admissions.

Both pleaded guilty to armed robbery in company with personal violence while the other woman was yet to be called upon to enter any pleas to her charges and was remanded on bail to appear at the October sittings of the same court.

The court heard the victim sustained two spinal fractures in the assault as well as internal and external bruising and was still suffering the psychological effects of the incident.

Barrister Nathan Edridge, for Leak, told the court his client had written a letter of apology to the court in which she spoke of her remorse and shame and how this incident had given her “the fright of her life”.

Leak had no criminal history at all prior to this offence and she had not inflicted any actual violence during the incident, he said.

Leak was studying nursing in the hope of becoming a paramedic and wanted to give back to the community, Mr Edridge said.

Kyle James Hibbins and Chelsea Jo Leak leaving Toowoomba Courthouse after being sentenced for armed robbery, Friday, September 1, 2023.

Barrister Dan Boddice, for Hibbins, said his client had spent 78 days in custody after his arrest which had been a “very, very unpleasant experience for him”.

His client was granted Supreme Court bail on condition he attended Teen Challenge to address his cannabis addiction which he had done, he said.

Mr Boddice said Hibbins had attended the toilet block that night in the belief the women were being raped and suggested his youth had played a part in his decision making when an older person may have thought it through differently.

Judge Horneman-Wren described the circumstances of the offence as “quite unique”.

Noting both were young offenders with their whole lives before them and that both had good prospects of rehabilitation and employment, Judge Hornemann-Wren ordered the convictions not be recorded and placed each on two years probation with Leak ordered to pay $750 compensation to the victim.