A FORMER barmaid at Weston's Criterion Hotel and a male associate have been found guilty of conspiring to rob the pub and give the new owners "a nice, real warm welcome to Weston", but a jury was deadlocked on their involvement in a terrifying armed robbery at the Abermain Bowling Club.
Paris Colette Labry, 31, of Pelaw Main, and Brent William Henderson, 35, of Weston, were found guilty of conspiring to commit an armed robbery after a three-week trial in Newcastle District Court.
But after deliberating for more than four days, the jury was unable to reach unanimous or majority verdicts on charges relating to the armed robbery of the Abermain Bowling Club on June 19, 2017.
Prosecutors had alleged that Henderson was the man armed with a firearm who stormed the Goulburn Street Club with Joel Brendan Shoesmith, now 36, and confronted a female staff member as she was preparing to close up for the night.
The two men forced her to the ground, tied her arms and legs with gaffer tape and ransacked the tills.
They then untied the staff member, took her to an ATM to empty the cash boxes and then forced her to open 19 poker machines. The offenders then entered the contents of the machines into bags.
In total, they stole nearly $16,000.
The staff member was then tied to a table leg and the pair fled to a Nissan Pulsar, which was later found burnt out.
Labry was accused of concealing a serious indictable offence, namely that Henderson had committed the Abermain Bowling Club armed robbery.
But jurors were ultimately left with a reasonable doubt that the man armed with the firearm was Henderson and, therefore, that Labry knew he had committed the offence and concealed that fact from police.
Shoesmith pleaded guilty to armed robbery in February and was later jailed for a maximum of seven years, with a non-parole period of four years. He admitted to being armed with a hammer, which he used to smash through the glass entrance to the club.
It's unclear whether the DPP will again prosecute Henderson and Labry over the Abermain Bowling Club armed robbery.
I was talking to Paris the other day. That will work out sweet. Give them a nice, real warm welcome to Weston.
Henderson said in an intercepted telephone call.
