Gunpoint robbery of delivery driver's car ends with more than three years' jail

Having his car stolen at gunpoint “irrevocably altered” a delivery driver’s sense of security and stability, a court has been told.

Paul Raymond Muell, 28, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery before he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ jail over the attack by the ACT Supreme Court earlier this month.

The agreed facts say the victim had driven his Mazda 2 to the loading dock of a news agency to start his shift as a newspaper delivery driver at about 4 am on 10 April 2023.

He was getting ready for work when Muell walked up to him and demanded his car keys.

When he refused, Muell pulled out what is described as a “handgun” and pushed it into the victim’s stomach while demanding the keys again. He said something like, “Go away, don’t call police. If you call, I will hurt you”.

Muell then drove off in the Mazda. It was found on Diddams Close in Belconnen later that morning, crashed into a tree.

The victim told the court that as an immigrant “who has come to embrace Australia as my new home”, the impact of the theft of his car had been profound.

“It has shattered the sense of security and belonging that I have worked hard to cultivate in this country,” he said.

“The constant fear and anxiety that now accompany even the simplest tasks, like entering or exiting my car for work, serve as stark reminders of the fragility of my newfound sense of belonging.

“As someone already struggling to make ends meet on a low income, this setback has thrown my financial stability into disarray.”

Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said the robbery was “an appalling experience for the victim”.

“Nobody should have to go through this. The victim was an innocent, blameless, hardworking person going about his work,” she said.

She did note that what type of firearm, whether unloaded or loaded or a replica, involved in the incident remained unresolved.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson said Muell was raised in “particularly disadvantaged and traumatic circumstances”, was on parole at the time of the robbery and had worked short stints as a labourer and otherwise received welfare payments.

He also has a problematic history of drug and alcohol use and a significant criminal history.

Muell spent just 73 days in the community on parole before he was arrested over other matters on 28 April 2023, then was later charged with the robbery. He has remained in custody since then.

He told the court he knew he had “done the wrong thing”.

“I accept that. And as much as I’d like to, you know, be in the community, I understand that I have done the wrong thing and I need to take my medicine for it, I guess,” he said.

Muell was handed a non-parole period of two years and three months’ jail.

As time served was taken into account, as was the other sentences he has already been serving, he can be released from custody from September 2024.