A MAN has been jailed for his part in an early morning armed robbery at a shop in south Belfast.
Belfast Crown Court heard Desmond McGeown (35) was linked to the scene by a knife he dropped at the Today's Express store on Ormeau Road last April.
During the robbery, a second man not before the courts brandished a hammer which was used to threaten the "terrified" female shop assistant, and to smash both a CCTV monitor and the employee's phone.
From St John's Close in Belfast, McGeown was handed a five year sentence by Judge Gordon Kerr QC, who also activiated a 12-month suspended sentence which the defendant breached when he committed the armed robbery.
Judge Kerr told the father of one he would serve three years in prison, with the remaining three years on licence.
About £630 was taken in the robbery, along with cigarettes and tobacco valued at £2,040.
A prosecuting barrister said that around 6.35am on April 3 last year, a lone female employee was working when two masked men entered. She was threatened, and while she was taken into a store room by McGeown's accomplice, McGeown went behind the counter and filled a black holdall with cigarettes and tobacco.
The prosecutor said that at some point, a knife that McGeown had fell onto the floor. This item was the subject of subsequent forensic testing, and McGeown's DNA was present.
Telling the court the shop assistant's fear was "obvious" by viewing CCTV, the prosecutor said the safe was emptied and the CCTV monitor in the store room was smashed.
Other CCTV was viewed, and when McGeown was arrested later that day, a distinctive Adidas top worn by the robber was found at his address, along with items linked to the robbery.
During interview, McGeown refused to answer questions, and "at times was abusive towards police".
A defence barrister said McGeown had issued a "full and unreserved apology for his behaviour and his actions" both to the court and to the shop assistant.
McGeown's childhood was "stressful", and he had mental health and addiction issues, he added.
Judge Kerr noted McGeown's 54 previous convictions but said he accepted the defendant has displayed insight into his behaviour and the impact it has had on the "terrifed" shop assistant.
