A Longford woman wept as she told a Supreme Court jury about the night five men armed with pistols came to her unit and threatened that she would be bashed and gang raped if she did not go to an ATM.
Alesha Nyl Prentice, 43, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary and the aggravated armed robbery of Christopher Hayton, 71, on October 25 last year.
However, Prentice pleaded guilty at the start of her trial on Monday to computer-related fraud in relation to withdrawing $2000 from Mr Hayton's account via an ATM shortly after an attack on Mr Hayton.
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The jury heard on Monday that a person with a paper bag over their head beat Mr Hayton around the head with a weapon and demanded his PIN number saying that if he gave the wrong PIN they would return and kill him.
Forensic scientist Rita Westbury gave evidence that Mr Hayton's DNA was found on a jacket seized from Prentice's bedroom.
"It is 100 billion more likely that Christopher Hayton is a contributor to the DNA profile than he's not," she said.
A blood drop was found on jeans seized with Mr Hayton a likely contributor.
A DNA profile of Mr Hayton was found on a sock shoved well into a left foot sneaker found in Prentice's unit.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Prentice said that on October 25 she answered her door and a guy walked in with a gun in his hand and that there were three other men behind him.
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"He said you are doing a [drug] cook for me," she said. "I said 'I can't' but they kept on and on and on."
She said that they started talking among themselves and one of the men left.
Then another black dressed armed man arrived making a total of five .
"One of the men came in and grabbed a jacket from a cupboard at the front door, picked up shoes and black pants," she said.
He said a man left and came back and handed her a debit card and told her the PIN number.
"He told me to get undressed and put the clothes on," she said.
"He told me to go to the ATM or Michael [her absent partner] would be bashed and I would be gang raped."
"I pretty much ran down there, went to the ATM and then I left," she said.
"I pretty much ran back because I was scared they would do something to my dog.
"I gave them the card and I gave them the money.
"They told me to take the clothes off and then they left."
Crown prosecutor Claire Darvell asked in cross examination: "Did you run past the Longford police station?
Prentice said she had but was too scared to stop.
She admitted that she told police a lie when they arrived to interview her about the robbery.
"I put it to you that the evidence you have given today about unknown men dressed in black and armed with guns is a fantasy and a lie," Ms Darvell asked.
"I wish it was," Prentice replied.
"You needed money and you wanted to go shopping?," Ms Darvell asked.
"No," Prentice replied to a number of suggestions.
Ms Darvell suggested that lying came easily to Prentice.
"No," she said.
"You lied because the truth would get you in trouble," Ms Darvell suggested.
"You lied to police in the interview and you are lying to the jury today?"
"No I'm not," Prentice said.
Earlier in the day Prentice the jury saw Prentice's interview with police in which she denied that she was the woman seen on a CCTV surveillance footage at the ATM in Longford.
In the video recorded police interview Prentice wept as she denied any involvement.
"I don't understand," she said.
Prentice wept in court as she watched the police interview.
The jury has heard that a withdrawal at the ATM was made within seven minutes of the robbery of Mr Hayton.
Prentice said she had gambled on poker machines the same day.
She said she could not understand how clothes and a sneaker seized from her unit had blood on them.
Defence counsel Olivia Jenkins, prosecutor Claire Darvell and Justice Stephen Estcourt will sum up on Wednesday before the jury retires to consider its verdict.
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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.
