Vic: Cross-dressing armed robber jailed for nine years

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2006
Vic: Cross-dressing armed robber jailed for nine years

By Kate Lahey

MELBOURNE, Dec 12 AAP - A cross-dressing armed robber who claimed he needed heroin
to ease the pain of a workplace injury has been jailed for more than nine years.

Olavo Puc, 44, worked as a Country Road fabric cutter before a roll of paper weighing
100kg fell on him in 1997, injuring his spine and leaving him in pain, Victorian County
Court Judge Anthony Duckett said today.

The father of two began committing armed robberies in November 2004 to buy the heroin
he said was for pain relief.

Judge Duckett jailed Puc today for a maximum nine years and one month with a minimum
of seven years.

Puc, originally from East Timor, pleaded guilty to two charges of armed robbery and
was found guilty by a jury of six other armed robberies and one robbery.

Judge Duckett said Puc attacked vulnerable retail establishments, sometimes when they
were operated by single female attendants.

"Your conduct was aggressive and violent," Judge Duckett said.

The court heard Puc dressed as a woman on two occasions in November last year, while
he was on bail for the other charges.

Twice he robbed the Hoppers Crossing Club near his home in Melbourne's west using a
tree branch in a sock to give the impression he had a gun.

Judge Duckett said on November 12 Puc bought a black wig and wore his mother's clothes.

"You wore a skirt, top and high heeled sandals and stockings," Judge Duckett said.

Puc put on some make-up and went to the gaming room at the Hoppers Crossing Club where
he handed the sole female attendant a note saying "put all the notes in the bag or you'll
die," Judge Duckett said.

The victim was still suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from the attack, Judge
Duckett said.

At the same club on November 25, Puc again dressed in women's clothes and wore a different
coloured wig.

He used a note reading: "Just put all the notes in and no one will be killed. If anything
happens you'll be the first to die."

Puc fled with $2,800 but was chased and tackled by two men.

Judge Duckett said although Puc had been of previous good character, his crimes were significant.

"The serious and repeated nature of these charges warrants the imposition of a substantial
period of immediate imprisonment," Judge Duckett said.

AAP kl/imc/de

KEYWORD: PUC

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