An aspiring bricklayer who held up two retail outlets along with his brother in a drug-fuelled crime spree has stood up in the dock, telling the victims "I stuffed up".
Rhys Sullivan, 24, and his brother Joshua John Sullivan, 27, fronted the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday for a sentence hearing. They previously admitted to robbing McDonald's Erindale at knifepoint on December 27, 2019, and attempting to rob Woolworths in Calwell the following day.
The court first heard from a victim of the McDonald's robbery, who was working there on the night of the hold-up. An agreed statement of facts said the Sullivans, clad in black clothes and face coverings, stormed the fast food restaurant in the early hours of the morning.
Rhys Sullivan pointed a knife at the victim and asked where the money was, before the pair went into the manager's office and Joshua Sullivan emptied the restaurant's safe.
They left with a total $1190 from the safe and registers.
"All that could go through my head was, 'I'm never going to see my children again'," the victim said.
"I fear doing the grocery shopping or taking my kids to the mall ... I am no longer the fun, bubbly mother I once was.
"[The incident] has completely changed my life."
The woman said she'd resigned from McDonald's after the incident.
The next victim to address the court was a man who helped to restrain Joshua Sullivan the night he and Rhys Sullivan tried to rob Woolworths.
CCTV was played to the court which showed the knife-wielding duo running into the grocery store from the car park, where they caught the attention of bystanders.
Four men followed them into Woolworths, where the brothers went behind the service desk and one man got Joshua Sullivan in a "bear hug".
The victim who addressed the court on Thursday climbed over the service counter to grab hold of Joshua Sullivan. He and another man sustained cuts in the scuffle with Joshua Sullivan, but managed to restrain him with the help of a third bystander before police came.
"I acted in fear ... [Joshua Sullivan] was not giving up easily," the victim said on Thursday.
"The counter was covered in blood - mine and the other man's, not the robber's."
As the men approached Joshua Sullivan, Rhys Sullivan fled to a nearby private garage, where a resident alerted police to his whereabouts. He has also pleaded guilty to one count of trespassing.
Rhys Sullivan stood up in the dock on Thursday and said: "I just want to say to you I'm so sorry for my actions. I shouldn't have done it. I stuffed up."
The man who helped restrain Joshua Sullivan left the court before Rhys Sullivan could address him.
The brothers are facing terms of full-time imprisonment for the offences, but both of their lawyers on Thursday argued the incidents weren't sophisticated or well planned.
The court heard Joshua Sullivan had started using methamphetamine at the age of 18, while Rhys Sullivan started using the drug at 17.
Justice David Mossop said he would sentence the pair on Friday afternoon.
