Bar manager tells ex to rob her - then calls police

After Dark Cabaret. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

A Rotorua woman who arranged for her former partner to burgle the bar she managed then locked his escape route and called the police on him.

Ana Tangimoe Gavin had told former boyfriend Bertram Sturley there would be $5000 cash to take from the bar and they arranged to split the money.

Yesterday, Gavin, 22, pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to her involvement in the December 22 aggravated burglary of After Dark Cabaret and to making a false statement to police.

She was represented by Louis Te Kani.

Judge James Weir released Gavin on bail to be sentenced on May 27.

Twenty-year-old Sturley was jointly charged with aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated assault. He has previously pleaded guilty.

The court was told yesterday that Gavin contacted Sturley and told him to rob the bar at a pre-arranged time when she would be the only staff member working.

According to the police summary of facts, Gavin's duties included cashing up and securing the tills at the end of the night and opening the safe the next morning.

On December 21 at 10.10pm, Gavin rang Sturley while working a late shift and asked him to come to the bar and rob it.

Sturley agreed but arranged to do it at 9am the next day. He was told she would be the only staff member on site and there would be $5000 and pokie money in cupboards. They planned to meet up at Sturley's house and split the money when she finished her shift.

Armed with a steak knife, Sturley waited down the road from the bar, sending text messages to Gavin. In one of the texts he said he was going to hold her up, so that it looked legitimate.

Last week, Judge Weir described the offence as a "bungled burglary of unusual circumstances".

"[Sturley] arrived just after it opened as arranged and presented a knife to [Gavin] as she took the till tray from the safe.

"There was only $150 in the bag rather than $5000 and she locked the door which was your escape route."

Sturley searched the nearby cupboards, looking for pokie money, but found only alcohol.

"She phoned the police and you were then left in a situation you needed to get out," Judge Weir told Sturley last week.

"I accept the submission made by your lawyer that the knife was for show and the purpose was simply there to provide a cover for robbing her."

Two people were playing the pokie machines at the time of the offence and thought a robbery was taking place. They went to the main bar area and blocked the door to prevent Sturley from leaving. "You shoulder-charged a woman to get her out of the way, pushing her into the door which she suffered injuries to her arm. She is still receiving treatment for that," Judge Weir said.

Sturley escaped but was later found by police in Kuirau Park, with the money and knife. He admitted what he had done and later told police about Gavin's involvement.

His lawyer, Moana Dorset, said the circumstances her client found himself in were "ridiculous in the extreme" and his decision to take part was "sheer stupidity".

She said Sturley had a dysfunctional upbringing but now lived a different lifestyle with his new partner and their young baby. He had been in custody since December.

Judge Weir took into account Sturley's early guilty plea and his remorse. "Hopefully the relationship with your child and the recent experience in prison will persuade you in another way in life."

Judge Weir indicated a sentence of nine months' home detention pending a report deeming it suitable. Sturley was to re-appear on April 29 for sentencing.