A masked bandit who robbed a Warrawong service station of cigarettes handed herself into police after pictures of her standing on the counter top circulated online.
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"I felt guilty, I felt bad, and it was the right thing to do," Anne-Marie Gallacher told Wollongong District Court on Wednesday when asked why she came clean.
Gallacher and her co-offender Telisha Monaghan entered a Warrawong BP service station a few days after Christmas in 2022 wearing black clothing with shirts tied around their faces.
Gallacher placed a silver box cutter on the counter and yelled at the attendant, "Open the till ... give me all the money in the till!"
The man refused, however Gallacher continued her demands: "Give me the money in the till or my friend with the gun's going to come in!"
Scared, the victim immediately shut the till and fled into the back office where a colleague was watching the situation unfold on CCTV.
The men locked themselves in the office while Gallacher jumped onto the counter.
She climbed through the security screen and continued her demands to "open the f---ing till!"
One of the victims asked her to leave several times, before Gallacher opened a cabinet and grabbed six packets of Winfield cigarettes.
Gallacher then jumped back over the counter and fell over before she and Monaghan fled outside, running towards the Open Hearth Hotel.
The women were caught on CCTV running into the venue's car park and hiding near a large green electrical box.
They took their black layers off and dumped them on the ground before walking off. Police arrived shortly after and seized the discarded garments.
Gallacher handed herself in two days after after police released CCTV stills on social media to appeal for help in identifying the masked women.
Defence lawyer Matt Kwan urged Judge Andrew Haesler to consider a significant discount in Gallacher's sentence as she had owned up to her crimes.
Due to the disguise, Mr Kwan said it would have been difficult to prove Gallacher's identity beyond a reasonable doubt had she not surrendered herself.
Gallacher, a mother from Berkeley, told the court of her prior longstanding struggle with prescription medication, adding that she had tried meth for the first time on the morning of the robbery.
She said she hasn't used the drug since and has engaged in psychological treatment, adding she had been the victim of horrific domestic violence for a prolonged period.
The court heard how Gallacher went on to commit three further offences since the robbery while enduring coercive control from her ex-partner. She received community corrections orders in the local court for these crimes.
Judge Haesler allowed Gallacher a 45 per cent discount in her sentence and spared her time behind bars due to her assisting authorities and the positive progress she has made.
She was handed a one year and nine month intensive correction order.
Monaghan will be sentenced for her role in June.
Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
