THE HILLVUE Superette robber said he commits crimes to have a roof over his head and three meals-a-day in prison.
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Jason Jordan Trindall, 24, was sentenced to three-years-and-six-months in Tamworth District Court on Friday. The offence carries a maximum 20 years' imprisonment.
Giving evidence in his own case, the money he stole from the shop was to pay for drugs and to get something to eat, Trindall said.
"I do have a problem with drugs, it's just to ease my mind to get through day-by-day," he said.
"Even here I can't help myself, I'll look for drugs and if I get it I'll use it just to get by.
"It gets thrown at you and chucked at you, it's in front of you everyday."
Trindall and two young boys entered the shop on May 21 wearing hooded jumpers pulled tightly around their faces.
The shopkeeper asked them to remove their jumpers, but that's when Trindall grabbed her and tried to cover her mouth to stop her screaming.
He then hit her with a broom handle and stole the cash drawer containing $250 and $30 in stamps, while one of the younger men grabbed a chocolate milk from the fridge.
The victim was taken to Tamworth hospital with a graze under her eye and pain in her shoulder.
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The court heard Trindall grew up in an abusive and unstable home, his father was a drug user and that played a role in Trindall's addiction later in life.
People can be conditioned to make certain choices, but everyone has free will, Judge Jeffery McLennan said.
"Mr Trindall has proved himself to be an unreliable historian when it suits him to be," he said.
"If there was sufficient support he might be able to take advantage of it, the choices are to do something now or have him be a regular feature on the criminal justice landscape where we continue to see Mr Trindall for the next 20-odd years of his life."
Trindall also tendered a letter of apology in court.