A woman who slapped a man while her co-accused pointed a loaded silver revolver at a youth during an aggravated armed robbery in West Launceston will serve 18 months in jail.
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Michell Anne Hodge, 29, pleaded guilty to the aggravated armed robbery of two seventeen-year-old males of a jumper, and a Commodore sedan on June 15, 2021.
The court heard that the two youth were "chilling out' in a car in Granville St when Hodge and two men drove up.
One of the men walked to the driver's side and asked the youth for money.
He pointed the silver revolver at the driver and then went around to the passenger side and pointed it at him.
The passenger got out of the car and told the man he had coins in the pocket of his jumper and gave them to him.
He then got down on his knees and the man ordered Hodge to slap the youth which she did striking him with her left hand to the right side of his face.
The co-accused man then pointed the weapon at the man's chest. The chamber of the weapon was opened and the complainant saw two bullets and he put his hands up.
The man asked for the car keys and drove the Commodore away. Hodge and the other man drove away in the car they arrived in.
Police spotted the stolen car in Wellington street and the co-accused and Hodge ran away towards High Street.
A handbag containing Hodge's personal documents and a credit card was found. She went to a home in High Street telling residents she had been held up.
Hodge was arrested but moved to Queensland where she was jailed for a time in relation to drug offending.
She was extradited back to Tasmania on August 13.
In sentencing Justice Pearce quoted from a victim impact statement from one of the youths who said he feared for his life and suffered disrupted sleep and anxiety.
He said Hodge had a prior conviction for evading police in 2018 and a partly suspended sentence in 2021.
Justice Pearce said that on the day of the offence Hodge was upset because a video call with her estranged child was cancelled.
She used drugs and was getting a lift home with the first man when the gun wielding co-offender also came along for the ride.
She did not know he was armed.
"You thought all that was going to happen was that they would be stood over for cigarettes," he said.
"You are to be sentenced because of a common intention."
In relation to the delay Justice Pearce said the prosecution accepted that Hodge left the state to escape a violent former partner.
He said a key factor in sentencing was Hodge's agreement to give evidence in the trial of the co-accused man.
"I am told your evidence will be powerful evidence of his guilt," he said.
Justice Pearce said Hodge's criminal culpability was much less.
''Nevertheless it is a very serious crime," he said.
"But for for your plea of guilty I would have given you two and half years jail," Justice Pearce said.
"I reduce the sentence by 15 per cent for your plea of guilty and by a further 25 per cent on your agreement to give evidence.
"If you fail to give evidence you may be brought back before the court and your sentence increased upon appeal [from the Crown].
The sentence was one and half years jail from August 13, 2023.
Hodge will face the Launceston Magistrates Court on November 2 on two counts of motor vehicle stealing, aggravated burglary, injure property and three counts of stealing.
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