STATE OF TASMANIA v MITCHELL KEITH GITTUS-BROWN
30 SEPTEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE SLATTERY AJ
Mitchell Keith Gittus-Brown, you are before the Court for sentencing in relation to complaint 8766/2026, with an offence in breach of s 240(3) of the Criminal Code 1924 in that on 28 July 2026 at New Town in Tasmania, you committed the crime of robbery upon one Ubaid Ur Rehman, by stealing one cash register, $387.15 in various denominations, and at the time of committing that robbery, you were armed with an offensive instrument, namely a red and black crowbar. This offending is also before this court in relation to a suspended sentence imposed by Magistrate Webster on 19 February 2026.
You are further charged on complaint 8765/2026, which alleges against you a breach of s 234 of the Criminal Code 1924 in that on 27 July 2026 at New Town in Tasmania, you stole one pair of brown work boots, one reflective shirt, one reflective hoodie, one pair of Everlast work canvas joggers to a total value of $218.00, the property of Kmart New Town.
You have entered guilty pleas to each of these charges at the earliest possible opportunity. Those pleas were entered on 29 July 2026 in the Magistrates Court.
In relation to complaint 8766/2026, the offence of armed robbery, the maximum penalty for this offence is 21 years imprisonment. The relevant facts of the matter are that on Tuesday, 28 July 2026 at around 5:50am, you entered the Ampol service station at 71 Risdon Road, New Town. An employee, Mr Rehman, was in the store, stocking shelves, when you entered. He moved behind the counter to serve you. You removed a crowbar from a bag you were carrying and you demanded that Mr Rehman give you all of the cigarettes in the store. You held the crowbar just above the counter so it was completely visible and you pointed it in the direction of Mr Rehman. He told you he had to go back to the rear of the store to get the relevant key. He then left the building. He ran across the road and phoned police. You then grabbed food items and went back to the counter, you reached across the counter and you pulled the cash register out of its placing. You put the cash register into your bag. It contained $387.15. At the time you knew that your actions were captured on CCTV. You left the store through the front door.
You entered the Friends School oval and club rooms. You were homeless at the time. You had been staying at those club rooms. You removed and discarded the clothes that you were wearing. You put on other clothes. Police then searched for you and when searching, they saw you running across the Brooker Highway. You were located and arrested.
You were carrying a black duffel bag at the time of your arrest, which was the same bag identified at the time of the robbery. You were searched and police found a total of $215.00 on your person. Also located, was a cash till, with an Caltex logo, containing coins of various denominations, a pair of work boots and pants worn by you in the robbery, a crowbar that was used in the robbery, and a black balaclava.
In relation to file 8765/2026, the count of stealing, the maximum penalty for this offence is 21 years imprisonment.
The facts of the matter are that on 3 September 2025, at 12.25am, police attended Kmart in New Town in relation to a suspicious male in the store. You were located in the carpark. You were observed pushing a shopping trolley at speed, towards Risdon Road. You were recognised by police.
You walked across New Town Road and Risdon Road, into the carpark of a Pizza Hut. You walked up the stairs towards the entrance of the Pizza Hut. You behaved in a disorderly manner. You were in possession of items stolen from Kmart. The items that you stole from Kmart New Town are one pair of Brown Work Boots, one reflective shirt, one reflective hoodie, one pair of Everlast Work Canvas Joggers. These add up to a total value of $218.00.
You were interviewed on 28 July 2026. You freely participated in that interview and you told police, under caution, that you did not have anywhere to live in the three months since you were released from custody and you were cold and tired. You said that you robbed the service station. You wanted money and cigarettes. You admitted being in possession of the crowbar. Yoy said that you did not want to hurt anybody, you just wanted money. You said that you knew that you were on camera and that is why you changed your clothes. When arrested, you were wearing the jumper, trousers and boots that you had stolen from Kmart the previous day. You stole the crowbar from Supercheap Autos at Rosny the day before. You knew that you would go into custody. You said that you did not see the crowbar as a threat, it was not your intention for anyone to get hurt and you said to police that you were very apologetic for scaring the attending at the service station. I am unable to accept your statement that you did not see the crowbar as a threat. You were not apologetic for stealing the money from Ampol. You have been in custody since 28 July 2026.
The complainant, Mr Rehman, has given a victim impact statement. It speaks of the extraordinary deleterious effect that this event has had upon him. He is embarrassed about the fact that he panicked and did not fully follow the corporate procedures. He could not work on the day of the robbery because he was so traumatised. He has suffered significant effects of the trauma. At first, he could not tell his wife what had happened. He now finds it difficult to work at that place, he panics when customers attend to be served, and during that week of the robbery, he could not work the Friday fully and then took the following week off. He has really not been able to go back to work with any comfort and he is now scared to leave the counter and do other tasks, like replenishing stock or cleaning.
He is constantly alert to the fact that the same robbery might happen again. He now fears other things happening to him in his life, he is always feeling unsafe and always looking around incessantly. He no longer is comfortable in public places, whether in shopping centres or merely being in the park with his family. He is looking for other jobs because he really finds that he cannot satisfactorily complete his work at that place. He is not able to operate the premises in the hours required, and he needs someone to open the premises early before he gets there.
Ampol Limited has made an application for a compensation order in the amount of $387.15. I make that order.
An application has also been made to review an order suspending a sentence. This application is made pursuant to s 27(1) of the Sentencing Act. The application seeks that the order suspending a sentence of four months’ imprisonment made against you by a magistrate on 19 February 2026, be reviewed on the ground that you have breached the condition of the order suspending the sentence by committing the offences of stealing on 27 July 2026, and armed robbery on 28 July 2026.
For the following reasons, I find the breach proved and I order that the suspended sentence of imprisonment be served by you. The relevant facts are that on 19 February 2026 in the Magistrates Court, Hobart, the court convicted you, on your plea of guilty, of 11 counts of stealing, one count of stealing with force, one count of trespass to land, one count of refuse to state name and address, one count of contravene conditions of a notice, one count of disorderly conduct, one count of unlawfully possess a dangerous article in a public place, two counts of assault of a police officer, one count of use of abusive language to a police officer, one count of possessing a thing used for the administration of a controlled drug, one count of unlawful possession of property, and one count of threaten a police officer.
The court sentenced you to serve a term of imprisonment of nine months, commencing on 7 October 2025, of which four months was suspended on the condition that for a period of three years you not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during the period and to be of good behaviour. Your term of imprisonment was to commence on 7 October 2025. The court also made a Community Corrections order against you for a period of 12 months. During the operational period, you were required to submit to the supervision of a probation officer, not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment, report to a probation officer as required and comply with all reasonable and lawful directions given by the probation officer.
Ms Bourke made submissions on your behalf. You are 32 years of age. You have struggled through the whole of your life with alcohol usage and, more recently, with the use of methylamphetamine. You have three children aged 12, 14 and 19 years of age who are in the care of your auntie. Their mother is unable to provide any care for them because of her crippling addiction to drugs. You have a relationship with your children, but you are not allowed to reside with them. Despite what your counsel has informed me, I am not satisfied you have as close a relationship with your children as your counsel submitted.
You had a strong relationship with your father but he recently died. Your mother has never been in your life. Following the death of your father, you fell into something of a spiral. Your offending commenced in 2013 and there was some family violence at that stage. Before your father’s death, there was a period where you had not offended but you fell into a spiral following his death. You are homeless. It has been a long time since you have been able to find a home. You have, therefore, lived on the street. You have run out of places to couch surf and you have been given little assistance. For example, you were recently released from custody and left at a bus stop with no money and no way of getting anywhere. In the end, you wanted to return to custody because you would have a roof over your head, meals and a dry bed.
You are horrified at the trauma that you have caused Mr Rehman. You are apologetic and you take fully responsibility for your actions. You have also suffered the indignity of being charged with an offence which you did not commit as a result of a false accusation being made against you by a child. You spent time in custody in relation to that matter. However, you had committed other offences for dishonesty and that time in custody was used up in relation to those offences. However, this has generally affected your outlook because you did spend time in custody on a matter that you did not commit, and that has left you bitter and frustrated. To an extent, this explains your state of mind which had become quite despondent.
You believe your greatest problem is that you have never been able to find a home to live in, you have been working with Pathways Housing who have offered to help you get accommodation when you are free from these issues. Although you are getting on top of your alcoholism, you have continued to use methylamphetamine.
I turn to sentence. Any sentence that I impose upon you must reflect condign punishment and the denunciation of your conduct, particularly in relation to persons such as Mr Rehman, who are very exposed working in service centres that open at the very early hours of the morning, specific denunciation of that conduct and specific and general deterrence. I accept that, in light of the material that has been put before me, specific deterrence may have a lesser part to play because of your long history of offending, and offending of the nature of stealing, theft and homelessness. However, I am satisfied that the need for general deterrence is significant, as is the need for denunciation.
You have committed a crime against property but also against the persons against whom that crime was perpetrated. The authorities have established that this crime has had significant adverse effects on the victim, which are long lasting, because it is such a serious crime and requires condign punishment. As Spigelman CJ in R v Henry (1999) 46 NSWLR 346 at [96] “surveys and other literature…establish that armed robbery is perceived as a life-threatening situation for a majority of victims“.
I have taken into account the content of Mr Rehman’s victim impact statement. This event has had an extraordinary adverse effect upon his life, upon his capacity to work, upon his enjoyment of life, upon his family relationships, and all of these effects will be long lasting. Mr Rehman will carry the burden of your crime for a long time. These adverse consequences are the very matter about which intermediate Courts of Appeal have spoken. Shop keepers and assistants in these stores that open for such long hours are very exposed because of their isolation at various times of the day. They are very prone to attacks of the nature you made. Your conduct created a life-threatening situation. It must be understood that such conduct will be met by condign punishment which marks the appropriate level of denunciation.
Although no submissions were made to this effect, I consider that the court should recognise the fact that you have entered your plea at the earliest opportunity and any discount I afford you must recognise that fact. I consider you are entitled to a discount of 10% on account of your plea. I cannot be more than that because of the overwhelming strength of the prosecution case.
I fix one penalty in relation to your offending under complaint 8765/2026 and 8766/2026. I fix a sentence of 20 months imprisonment, reduced by 10% to 18 months, backdated to 28 July 2026, the date that you were taken into custody. Under the application 662/2026, the application for review of an order suspending a sentence, I review the sentence of four months imprisonment imposed by Magistrate C Webster on 19 February 2026 and order that you serve the period of suspended sentence of four months. The total sentence, therefore, is 22 months, with the commencement date to be backdated to the date you were taken into custody on 28 July 2026. For the purposes of s 92A(1)(e) of the Sentencing Act 1997, I identify that the suspended sentence of 4 months is to be served cumulatively with the sentence that I have imposed for these offences. Under the Sentencing Act 1997, I impose a total sentence of 22 months, which is backdated to the date that you were taken into custody on 28 July 2026. I order that you not be released until you have served 11 months of that sentence.