![Codey Michael O'Brien pleaded guilty to an armed robbery at the Summers Oxley Vale Superette on Manilla Road. Picture by Peter Hardin Codey Michael O'Brien pleaded guilty to an armed robbery at the Summers Oxley Vale Superette on Manilla Road. Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150521478/a8641b8b-11f0-4f64-b532-d7182612e3ea.jpg/r0_370_7238_4150_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
TWO women were ordered to keep still and shove cash into a bag when they were confronted by a man armed with a knife during an early morning shift in Tamworth.
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Codey Michael O'Brien replied "yes Your Honour" in Tamworth Local Court when he was asked if he would be pleading guilty to an armed robbery charge after he fled from a Manilla Road convenience store with $300 cash.
The 27-year-old appeared via video link from custody when he admitted to being armed with a 35 centimetre bladed knife when he entered the Summers Oxley Vale Superette just after 7am on March 26, 2023.
O'Brien also pleaded guilty to one charge of demanding property with intent to steal in the hours before the robbery, after he followed a man walking along Scott Road.
In court, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) solicitor Andrew Passlow handed up a statement of agreed facts, detailing exactly what transpired during the early morning crime spree across Tamworth.
The agreed facts reveal O'Brien threw a plastic bag on the counter of the superette and yelled at a female employee to fill the bag with cash.
"Put all the money in there and f****** hurry up," O'Brien told the woman.
The 27-year-old told another woman who was working at the time to "stand still and don't f****** move" while the other employee emptied out the till.
The agreed facts state while the woman was putting the cash in the bag, O'Brien lifted his jumper so she could see a knife resting against his stomach.
O'Brien fled from the store with about $300 in cash, and the woman called the police to report the robbery.
According to the agreed facts, when police received the call about the robbery, officers were investigating an incident between two men on Scott Road which was reported about an hour before the Oxley Vale robbery.
Just after 5:30am, O'Brien was near the Mobil Service Station on Goonoo Goonoo Road when he introduced himself to another man and asked him for a cigarette.
The man gave the 27-year-old a cigarette before putting in his headphones and walking towards Scott Road.
While the man was walking along Scott Road, he noticed O'Brien was walking quickly behind him, and was holding a knife.
The man started running from O'Brien, who started to head back towards Goonoo Goonoo Road.
The entire incident was captured on CCTV and reported to police.
O'Brien was arrested by Oxley police on the same day at a home on Cossa Street. The 27-year-old has been behind bars since he was charged and taken into custody.
The court heard a part of the interaction between the two men on Scott Road was still in dispute, but the matter was expected to be resolved quickly.
Following the guilty pleas, magistrate Julie Soars said the matter would be sent to the district court for a sentence to be handed down.
O'Brien will be sentenced for one charge of robbery armed with an offensive weapon; and demand property with menaces intent to steal.
The robbery charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars.
The 27-year-old also pleaded guilty to related charge of possessing methamphetamine.
O'Brien made no application for bail, and will appear via video link from custody when the matter is mentioned in the district court in April.