A Dilston man pushed two jewellery shop staff to the ground before escaping with a $7500 ring, the Supreme Court in Launceston heard.
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Steven John Henderson, 43, pleaded guilty to the robbery from Jim Hughes and Sons jewellers about 10.30am on March 13, 2020.
Crown prosecutor John Ransom showed CCTV footage which showed Henderson enter the store in the Quadrant Mall and look around for several minutes before asking to look at a ring.
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He was wearing a blue shirt he had stolen from Myer.
A female staff member removed the ring from a display cabinet and passed it to Henderson.
"Without warning he pushed her with two hands causing her fall backwards to the ground and hit her wrist on the display cabinet," he said.
A second female staff member tried to block his exit but he also pushed her to the ground.
The CCTV recorded extended howls of distress from the first staff member.
Mr Ransom said he ran into the Quadrant Mall with staff members giving chase.
"He threatened them saying he had a firearm," Mr Ransom said.
He ran to the Tatler Arcade and jumped in a car which drove down St John Street.
The court heard that police arrived at Henderson's residence in Dilston shortly after.
They recovered the ring and arrested him.
Defence counsel Fran McCracken said that Henderson was a drug user who had exacerbated other mental health conditions with his use of illicit drugs.
She said it was ironic that Henderson had shortly before resolved a dispute with Centrelink and had thousands of dollars in his wallet from a back payment.
"It was almost enough to have paid for this ring," she said.
She said that Henderson had displayed a "disordered and illogical train of thought".
"What was the disordered train of thought?," Justice Robert Pearce asked.
"He had thousands of dollars with him, there wasn't a need to steal," she said,
"Being able to pay and wanting to pay are two different things," he remarked.
Ms McCracken submitted that he should be assessed for a drug treatment order-an alternative to actual jail sentence.
Justice Pearce remanded Henderson in custody while he considered whether to have him assessed.
Sentencing is on Friday, October 2 at 2.15pm.
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