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MELBOURNE - A Country Road fabric cutter who suffered a workplace injury later turned into a cross-dressing armed robber to fund the heroin he used for pain relief, a court has heard.
Father of two Olavo Puc, 44, had a successful career and a stable marriage before a roll of paper weighing 100kg fell on him at work in 1997, injuring his spine and leaving him in chronic pain which led to depression, the Victorian County Court heard.
Puc, originally from East Timor, pleaded guilty today to two charges of armed robbery. He was recently found guilty of six other armed robberies and one robbery.
The court heard Puc dressed as a woman on two occasions in November last year and robbed the Hoppers Crossing Club near his home in Melbourne's west, using a tree branch in a sock to give the impression he had a gun.
Puc's lawyer, Nola Karapanagiotidis, said her client was smoking $50 ($74) worth of heroin a day, after an acquaintance recommended the drug to him.
"Up until 1997 he had everything, he was working, he was providing, he certainly had meaning, he'd not touched drugs or alcohol," Ms Karapanagiotidis said.
The pre-sentence hearing continues before Judge Anthony Duckett.
- AAP
