A man has pleaded guilty to his part in an early morning armed robbery at a Coalfields club, where he allegedly pointed a shotgun at a cleaner and threatened to cut off one of the man's fingers.
Solomon Kifooti, 23, pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday to robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon.
Magistrate Robert Stone sent the matter to the District Court for sentencing, where it will be mentioned next week.
According to a statement of agreed facts tendered to the court, Kifooti - who was with two co-accused at the time - broke into Greta Workers and Recreation Club just after 5am on December 22, 2018.
Kifooti stole a laptop, three bottles of alcoholic spirits, an iPhone and four pool cues.
During the violent heist, which lasted less than 10 minutes, Kifooti demanded a gold ring from the finger of a man who was at the club cleaning the venue - he was the only person on-site.
When the cleaner said the ring was too tight to remove, Kafooti replied: "we'll take your finger". The man removed his ring.
While the others were allegedly ransacking the club, Kifooti told the cleaner to "get on the floor, get on the floor" as he pointed a single-barrel sawn-off shotgun at him.
"Put your head into the carpet and don't look at me, don't look at me," Kifooti said.
He told the cleaner three-to-four times: "don't move or I'll blow your head off".
At one point Kifooti had his foot on the man's neck.
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During the ordeal, according to the statement of facts, one of Kifooti's alleged accomplices hit the cleaner three times with a metal baseball bat.
The first blow connected with the side of the man's head, the second struck his back and the third hit the hands of the cleaner as he put them up for protection.
Another swing missed its target and smashed the perspex window at the betting counter.
The trio escaped just as the club's green keeper was arriving for his shift.
The green keeper saw people in a dual-cab ute flee the scene.
When help arrived, the cleaner's shirt was described as being "blood soaked".
Kifooti and one of his co-accused were arrested in the northern Sydney suburb of Dee Why on New Year's Eve, 2018.
The statement of facts noted that police found a tattooed leg matching the description of one belonging to Kifooti in the background of a photo posted to Facebook by one of his associates as part of an advertisement to sell the stolen smart phone.
Kifooti will face Newcastle District Court on March 19, where the sentencing process will begin.
