A MAN who threatened to rape a 14-year-old boy if he called the police during a robbery at a Wallsend grocer and robbed and assaulted an international student at the University of Newcastle Callaghan campus has been jailed for a maximum of three-and-a-half years.
"If you try to call someone or the cops I will come back and rape you in here," Daniel Sean Freeman-Marshall, 27, of Wallsend, told the teenage boy, who was working alone in the store about 8.30pm on May 4 last year.
Moments earlier Freeman-Marshall had threatened the boy and told his female accomplice, who police allege was Kristy Lees, to empty the cash register.
"Oi, come here, come here you f---wit," Freeman-Marshall said to the boy. "Come over here and give me the money".
The female accomplice then allegedly went behind the counter and stole $180 from the cash register.
If you try to call someone or the cops I will come back and rape you in here.
Daniel Sean Freeman-Marshall told a 14-year-old boy during a robbery at Wallsend on May 4, 2019.
Then, a few hours later, Freeman-Marshall robbed an international student at the University of Newcastle, while police say it was Ms Lees who allegedly repeatedly punched the helpless student in the face.
Freeman-Marshall pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in company and was jailed for a maximum of three-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of two years in Newcastle District Court on Thursday.
Judge Penelope Wass, SC, found that Freeman-Marshall's complex past and drug issues entitled her to make a finding of special circumstances, reducing the non-parole period that Freeman-Marshall will have to serve.
Freeman-Marshall will be eligible for parole in August, 2021.
In a significant development, police recently arrested Ms Lees, who had remained at large for months despite arrest warrants and repeated police appeals for information on social media.
Ms Lees has been charged with two counts of robbery in company, robbery armed with an offensive weapon and demanding property with menaces.
She remains behind bars and will next appear in both Newcastle and Toronto Local Court next month.
