A person accused of the aggravated armed robbery of a Longford man told him he would be killed if he provided the wrong PIN, a Supreme Court jury heard.
Christopher Hayton, 71, said was woken by blows to the head and arms by a person holding an iron bar on October 25 last year.
Alesha Nyl Prentice, 43, of Longford, has pleaded not guilty to a count of aggravated burglary and a count of aggravated armed robbery.
Prentice pleaded guilty before her trial started to a count of computer-related fraud for using Mr Hayton's credit card to withdraw $2000 from his account on the same day.
Defence counsel Olivia Jenkins said there was no dispute that a person entered Mr Hayton's unit and that he was injured. "What is in dispute is who the person was," she said.
Mr Hayton gave evidence that he was hit five or six times by a blunt instrument. But he told police he thought it was a mature man of short stature in the 40-50 year age bracket.
Asked by Crown prosecutor Claire Darvell what was said Mr Hayton said: "The person in a fake voice said 'give me your PIN number. If you give me the wrong one I will come back and kill you'."
Mr Hayton said that the person had a brown paper bag over their head and was wearing light-coloured clothing and was slim. He suffered a cut head which bled profusely and cuts to his forearms as he tried to defend himself.
He said the person took his wallet, $400 cash, CBA card, taxi vouchers and two packets of Peter Jackson red cigarettes.
Mr Hayton told the jury that he knew Ms Prentice who lived in the same block of Housing Tasmania units. "She was a frequent visitor who wanted cigarettes, money," he said. "She came to my unit dozens of times seeking to borrow things."
Mr Hayton accepted a suggestion from Ms Jenkins that he told police he thought it was a man. A neighbour Grant Stevenson said Mr Hayton was terrified and bleeding when he knocked on his window about midnight. Police found a trail of blood from one unit to the other.
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Ms Darvell told the jury they would see CCTV footage of a woman withdrawing money from an ATM. However, she said Ms Prentice denied to police that it was her in the CCTV footage.
Detective Alison Logan said a police search found receipts in Ms Prentice's flat the next day dated October 25 including a $399 for a Play Station, a significant number of papers and a packet of Peter Jackson Reds.
However, she told Ms Jenkins that no cash was found in the flat or a weapon.
Ms Darvell said it was a circumstantial case but there would be forensic evidence which showed Mr Hayton's blood on a T-shirt, jeans and a shoe found in Ms Prentice's unit. "The DNA from those items matched Mr Hayton's DNA," she said.
The trial before Justice Stephen Estcourt continues on Tuesday.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
