A MAN charged with an armed robbery at a Bathurst pharmacy has pleaded guilty and been committed for sentence in the District Court.
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Lawrence Trindall, 26, appeared before magistrate Alison Viney in the Bathurst Local Court last week, pleading guilty to armed robbery with an offensive weapon.
A more serious charge of robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon was dismissed and withdrawn following the guilty plea, while a third charge of larceny was referred to the District Court.
The charges related to the hold-up of a pharmacy in the city’s CBD back in March this year where police alleged Trindall held a steak knife against a pharmacist’s ribs, demanding she remove drugs housed in the safe at the rear of the chemist.
The female pharmacist was not physically injured in the incident.
Two other people who were in the pharmacy at the time of the robbery were also unharmed.
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After the hold-up police instigated a manhunt across the city., arresting Trindall without incident at a home in Kelso.
At the time of the armed hold-up police reviewed closed circuit television footage taken from the pharmacy, the nearby Coles supermarket and the shopping centre .
Chifley Police District crime manager Detective Inspector Luke Rankin said at the time of the incident that arresting the offender was an absolute priority.
“Thankfully robberies are unusual events for Bathurst and armed robberies are even fewer,” he said.
“This [alleged offence] was brazen, it occurred at 10am in a busy shopping centre.
“We invested all of our resources into it.”
Trindall’s matter is listed for mention in the Bathurst District Court on October 22.