A woman held up at knifepoint by drug-fuelled armed robber Albert Frederick Riley was pregnant at the time, the Supreme Court in Launceston heard.
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Riley, 23, pleaded guilty to three counts of armed robbery committed on January 9 and 10 this year.
Justice Robert Pearce adjourned sentencing until Friday May 22 while he weighed up the sentencing options.
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However, he indicated in discussion with defence counsel Hannah Phillips that Riley was facing jail for a "very long time".
Crown prosecutor Virginia Jones said that about 3.35pm on January 10, Riley entered the Top Shop at Waverley.
He was armed with a toy pistol and brandishing a machete when he demanded cash and cigarettes from the shop attendant.
CCTV footage was played to the court.
The shop attendant pleaded with Riley not to hurt her and handed him $816 in cash and $4000 worth of cigarettes.
When he left Riley said: "What I want you to do now is close your eyes and count to 10".
The footage showed her run to the back of the store and scream with distress.
Riley later told police that he was in big trouble with the Outlaws (motorcycle gang) because the "girl" was a relation of the Outlaws.
Ms Phillips said Riley had not realised the woman was pregnant and had not intentionally pointed the knife toward her torso.
Ms Jones provided Justice Pearce with a victim impact statement.
About half an hour earlier on the same day, Riley went to the BWS at Sunny Hill, Ravenswood, and robbed it of $150 cash and a 10 pack of Jack Daniels and coca cola.
CCTV footage showed him pull a knife from his trousers and point it at the male shop assistant who was holding his hands in the air. He told him to count to ten and left in a Toyota Camry
At about 10.25pm on January 9, Riley and another man went to the Kmart and stole items worth about $600.
When asked by a security guard if he had paid for the items Riley pulled a 10-centimetre knife and pointed it at him from about a metre away.
Ms Jones said that after the Waverley robbery, Riley had been driving from Punchbowl Road into Amy Road when police spotted his Toyota Camry and activated lights and siren.
"Mr Riley crossed to the incorrect side of the road and then when he attempted to cross back to the correct side of the road the back of the Camry swerved and he crossed back across the road and crashed into a truck," Ms Jones said.
Riley was trapped in the vehicle on Penquite Road and he produced the toy pistol when asked.
He pleaded guilty to evading police under aggravated circumstances - a crime which requires a separate sentence to the armed robberies.
He also pleaded guilty to numerous driving charges including reckless driving and driving with an illicit substance (methylamphetamine) in his blood.
The court heard that Riley nearly killed himself in the crash.
He was trapped for two-and-a-half hours and had to be flown to Melbourne for emergency treatment.
He was arrested when he arrived back in Tasmania on January 26.
Riley had a four-month suspended sentence hanging over his head after assaulting an emergency services employee and multiple counts of destroying property in 2017.
In March, Magistrate Sharon Cure activated the suspended sentence and added two months for driving and stealing charges which stretched back to August 2018.
Ms Phillips said Riley had written to two victims to say sorry and was in the process of writing to the third.