‘Are you serious?’: Aiden Wright pleads guilty to robbery of late-night Darwin restaurant
A masked bandit had to beg Darwin late-night shift workers to open the cash register after they refused to take him ‘seriously’.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A hapless masked bandit had to beg late-night shift workers to open the cash register after they refused to take him “seriously” and continued to serve other customers.
Aiden Wright pleaded guilty last week to a ‘brazen’ yet farcical robbery of a Darwin restaurant on April 26.
Supreme Court Justice Judith Brownhill said that at 3.20am on April 26 the 18-year-old tied a cloth around his face and hid a large knife in his pants before walking into the late night city eatery.
But the suspicious character did not make his way straight to the counter, instead sitting on a bench “for some time”.
Eventually he approached the counter, lifting his shirt to expose the knife and demanding: “open the cash register now”.
Instead the late-shift worker walked to the other end of the counter to serve other hungry customers.
Wright then demanded another worker: “open it now”, which they ignored.
After a beat, the teenager yelled: “Open the f--king till. I got a knife”.
The worker’s only response was “why?”.
“Cause,” the teen answered.
The worker then explained he could not open the till unless a transaction was made.
“What if I buy a $1 drink? Then you can open the till,” the masked bandit pleaded.
He then slammed a 20cm knife down on the counter, saying “Give me what you got”.
“Are you serious?” the worker asked.
Wright said, “Yes, I’m f--king serious. Open it now.”
Justice Brownill said the workers had a conversation about whether to open the cash register, before Wright warned them “you have four f—king seconds”, before counting down.
The two staff then backed away, allowing Wright to jump over the counter, open the register and make off with $1000.
“You persisted with your demands and became more aggressive in the face of the staff’s initial failures to take you seriously and open the cash register,” Justice Brownhill said.
She said the young man came from a troubled home with a childhood characterised by “dysfunction, instability and trauma”, with Wright dropping out of school at just 16 as he spiralled under the influence of drugs and poor mental health.
Justice Brownhill said this was the first time he had been in trouble, with his former boss and friend both attesting this was “completely out of character”.
She said he had also shown great “growth and maturity” during his rehabilitative stay at the Banyan House program, enrolling in a university course and looking for work.
Justice Brownhill said in light of his efforts to change his trajectory, she decided not to impose a conviction and instead put him on an 18-month community corrections order.
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘Are you serious?’: Aiden Wright pleads guilty to robbery of late-night Darwin restaurant
‘Sovereign citizens’ allegedly helped mum kidnap little girl
The former CLP vice president has shared how a Darwin mum became involved with ‘crazy’, ‘sovereign citizens’ before an alleged kidnapping.
‘Happy-go-lucky’ Darwin man beaten to death by cousin
The family of a Darwin murder victim have shared their relief after the jury handed down its verdict: ‘We feel at ease now, that it’s all come to this, and it’s all over’.