A robber left an employee at a service station traumatised after he and another man walked behind the counter and grabbed her before entering the till of cash. The victim said she was left feeling nervous in work and suffers flashbacks of the incident.
Liam Watts, 23, and his accomplice walked into Nantybwych service station in Tredegar on December 23, 2023, and approached the cashier who was sitting behind the counter. Both of their faces were covered and they walked straight to the till.
A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday heard one of the men grabbed hold of the woman behind the counter. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter.
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They told her she wouldn’t be hurt and to stay where she was.
The men asked her to open the till and they took a total of £220 in cash.
Prosecutor Jenny Yeo said Watts then went to the tobacco shelf and emptied items into his bag.
As they left, one of the robbers took a bottle of brandy before leaving the shop.
The woman sat for a while behind the counter before she started to cry and then called the police.
Watts, of King Street, Cwm, Ebbw Vale was later arrested and denied the offences, but his fingerprints were found on a packet of tobacco.
The defendant later pleaded guilty to robbery.
The court heard he has five previous convictions for offences including possession of cannabis and battery.
In a victim personal statement read to the court by Ms Yeo, the victim said: “As a result of this crime my mental health has suffered a great deal, particularly at work.
“I work alone at the service station with customers coming and going frequently and generally feel fine but when I am working late afternoons and night shifts I feel nervous and have flashbacks.
“To help cope with this I have been asking friends and my partner to meet at the service station to be there with me for what’s left of my shift, and I feel nervous in the house on my own.”
In mitigation, the court heard the defendant had been subject to care proceedings as a child and lost his mother at a young age.
It was also said he had been involved in a bad car accident as a passenger when he was 17-year-old and had also been addicted to two children. He is also a father to two young children.
Judge Carl Harrison sentenced Watts to a total of 27 months imprisonment.
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