A FEMALE employee who was cornered in the back room of a service station by a knife-wielding armed robber stood her ground, refusing to hand over her handbag and wallet before chasing him from the store.
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He pulled out a 15-centimetre knife, confronted the female attendant in the back room, pointed the knife at her chest and said: "Go to the till, I want the f---ing money."
The woman complied, but wasn't moving quickly enough for Kelly, prompting him to push her in the back and tell her: "You're stalling, hurry up. "I want all the notes." Dissatisfied with the amount of cash in the register, Kelly told the woman: "There's gotta be more cash than this."
"No there isn't any more," the woman replied, according to an agreed statement of facts. "You're scaring me."
Kelly then told the woman to fill his backpack with packets of cigarettes, but she refused. "You're not getting the smokes," she told him.
As Kelly furiously searched for more cash, the female employee had time to lock the cigarette cabinet and trigger the emergency alarm, alerting the police and a security company.
As Kelly was leaving he picked up the woman's bag and began running for the exit.
But not wanting to lose an item that held such sentimental value, the woman gave chased and a struggle ensued.
"You're not taking my handbag," the woman told Kelly. "My daughter bought it for me." "Well give me the wallet out of it," Kelly said, in a bizarre attempt to negotiate. "No, it matches my bag," the woman told him.
Kelly dropped the bag and ran from the store, attempting to cover his tracks by heading into a nearby school and changing his clothes.
He was arrested 30 minutes later about 600 metres from the service station.
Kelly had been released on parole in August, 2019, after serving two years and nine months for an armed robbery at a store at Kempsey.
Kelly had committed that robbery six weeks after he finished serving nearly eight years in jail for five armed robberies at North Lambton, New Lambton, Bulahdelah and Mayfield over six days in 2008.
On Wednesday, he appeared in Newcastle Local Court and pleaded guilty to armed robbery, his 18th conviction for the offence.
He will appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a sentence date.
"You're not taking my handbag. My daughter bought it for me."
- The victim of a Teralba service station robbery stood her ground when confronted by a knife-wielding Jerrymee Maine Kelly.