A SERIAL criminal who handed over a deposit slip demanding $50,000 before robbing a Launceston bank will spend at least the next two years in jail.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Marcus Denis Mayne, 24, stole $8150 in cash from the Commonwealth Bank at Newstead on June 1 after presenting a bank officer with a deposit slip, on which he had written a demand for money and a warning that he had a gun in his backpack.
The Burnie man had been waiting in a car in a nearby car park since 6am and went into the bank as soon as it opened at 9.30am.
He wore a beanie and sunglasses, but made no other attempt to hide his appearance.
Handing down his sentence in the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday, Chief Justice Ewan Crawford described the robbery as amateurish.
``His fingerprints were on the note and he was recognisable from the CCTV footage,'' he said.
Chief Justice Crawford said there was no evidence that Mayne had a gun, but he had held the backpack up to the bank officer and told her he would shoot her.
``The crime had a profound psychological effect on the bank officer,'' he said.
``He [Mayne] is not to be sentenced as if it was an armed robbery, but bank robbery is one of the worst forms of robbery and must be condemned by the court.''
Chief Justice Crawford said Mayne had a ``shocking'' criminal record that included 90 offences of dishonesty, seven assaults, armed robbery, aggravated armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and two escapes, and had breached a suspended sentence in committing this particular crime.
Mayne pleaded guilty and has been in custody since the day after the robbery.
He was sentenced to serve three years and six months' jail, and will be eligible for parole in December 2014.