Andrew Whitfield, 32, is fighting charges laid over his alleged involvement in a robbery at the Old Canberra Inn. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
At first a staff member at the Old Canberra Inn thought the balaclava-clad man who had surprised him at the pub worked in their kitchen and jokingly told him, “You look like a robber”.
The man allegedly went on to steal about $20,000 in cash from the business at knife-point.
A judge-alone trial has begun in the ACT Supreme Court against the man alleged to be the robber, 32-year-old Andrew Whitfield, in which he is fighting charges of robbery and burglary.
When giving her opening submissions on Wednesday (30 July), prosecutor Marina Lucero said she expected the issue at trial would be the identity of the man in the balaclava.
She said the Lyneham pub had been unusually busy on the night of 29 June 2024 when two men came in, alleged to be Mr Whitfield and his friend.
A staff member later said they were an “unseemly” pair and one of them, alleged to be Mr Whitfield, was drinking a bottle of Great Northern beer he’d brought in himself, so was told to throw it out.
The pair ordered food and drinks, then left later that evening.
Just after midnight, the pub had closed, the customers had left and the last three staff members were sitting around inside having an after-work drink, Ms Lucero said.
When one of them got up to go back to the bar, he encountered a man wearing a balaclava.
At first this staff member thought he was a member of the kitchen staff, as he knew they occasionally wore balaclavas when they cycled home, and jokingly told the man, “You look like a robber”.
But Ms Lucero said the staff member then noticed the man was carrying a knife and the latter allegedly told him, “Show me where the money is or I’ll kill you”.
The prosecutor said the man took him and the other two staff members into an office area, making various threats like he would “slice” them.
He then allegedly stole about $20,000 in cash before also demanding bottles of alcohol.
“You never saw me,” the man allegedly said before leaving.
Mr Whitfield was arrested later that day, being 30 July.
Ms Lucero said the entire incident was captured on CCTV, but the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence to prove he was the robber.
She claimed the bottle of Great Northern beer was seized and linked to Mr Whitfield, while CCTV stills showed the robber was wearing the same clothes as Mr Whitfield wore earlier in the evening.
Also, she alleged the robber and Mr Whitfield had a similar tattoo and Mr Whitfield’s mobile phone pinged off a nearby communications tower that evening.
When police arrived that night, the staff member who first encountered the robber claimed he quickly recognised how the man in the balaclava was the same man who had been drinking the bottle of Great Northern earlier that evening.
In court, this staff member said the robber appeared to be “under the influence” as he had been making “involuntary jaw movements”, while the knife looked like a seven to eight-inch kitchen knife.
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Skye Jerome, the staff member accepted he had been suspicious of the man who came into the pub with the Great Northern bottle as he brought the bottle inside, then remained suspicious of him until he left the premises.
Ms Jerome also questioned him about his claims that he thought the robber was the man with the beer bottle just after he saw the knife that night.
She said the staff member agreed in court that he had made some incorrect observations about the man with the bottle.
“I suggest to you that in that moment of shock, you made a mistake about the true identity of the robber,” she said.
“I disagree about that,” the staff member replied.
The trial continues before Acting Justice Patricia Kelly.
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