A teenager who robbed a central Rotorua store with a knife and stole handfuls of synthetic cannabis made a "foolish mistake", a court has heard.
John Tiopira, 17, was yesterday sentenced in the Rotorua District Court to two years and two months' imprisonment, after previously pleading guilty to the aggravated robbery of a Pukuatua St store earlier this year.
Judge Thomas Ingram said Tiopira entered the store with an associate, and with a knife, robbed the store that at the time sold legal highs.
''Your aim was to get as much synthetic cannabis as you could," Judge Ingram said.
During the robbery, a shopkeeper had been knocked to the ground, he said.