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A 15-year-old schoolgirl who disguised herself in a Batman mask and robbed a bank has been jailed for two years.
Hawera District Court was told yesterday Leanne Karianu Rio was manipulated into carrying out the heist by an older accomplice, Matene Wilson-Tipa, 18.
Wilson-Tipa was earlier jailed for four years for planning the robbery at the Hawera ASB.
Wearing a Batman mask, Rio threatened a bank teller with a plastic pistol.
More than $17,000 was taken, of which about $14,000 has not been recovered.
Judge Rob Murfitt described the robbery as an elaborate scheme where Rio was manipulated by the older more sophisticated Wilson-Tipa.
He sentenced her to two years' jail with leave to apply for home detention.
She was also sentenced to three months' jail, to be served concurrently, for the aggravated robbery of an Eltham woman in January.
Judge Murfitt said Rio would serve her jail sentence in a youth facility in Auckland.
- NZPA
