Taser-wielding wannabee robber Stanley Connors zaps men when trying to steal car

Stanley Shane Connors, 27, pleaded guilty to an attempted aggravated robbery. Photo: Michelle Kroll.

A man used a taser to zap the driver of a Mercedes-Benz when trying to steal his car and when the driver managed to flee, he turned his attention to the car’s passenger, shocking him too, as well as punching him in the head.

Court documents say early in the morning of 6 January 2021, the two victims saw a stolen Holden Commodore pull into a service station in the southern Canberra suburb of Calwell and began to speak to one of its passengers, Stanley Shane Connors.

When the driver of the Mercedes drove off, he and his passenger saw the Commodore follow them.

They pulled over and the Commodore stopped beside them. Connors got out of it, hopped into the Mercedes car with a taser and said, “Give me your car”.

Connors pushed the taser’s prongs into the driver’s shoulder and shocked him with it, leaving the driver in pain and feeling physically sick. An unidentified co-offender then tried to hit him with a crowbar.

The driver managed to get out of his car with his keys and ran, so Connors turned his attention to the passenger who told him, “You don’t want to do this. I know who you are”.

But Connors zapped him with the taser twice, on the forearm and in the palm, and punched him in the head several times.

The co-offender hit the passenger with the crowbar before he managed to flee.

Connors was arrested two days later. He pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated robbery and riding in a vehicle without consent over the incident, in addition to unrelated charges.

Connors appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday (11 February) where it heard he had already built up an “unhealthy” criminal history.

But Acting Justice Richard Refshauge said the 27-year-old had made genuine attempts at reform which was evident in a letter – although added the letter had been written in the context of him facing a lengthy jail sentence.

He also said he recognised if he continued to live in the way he had, then that would deprive him of a relationship with his son.

Daniel Turner from the Aboriginal Legal Service said Connors had already spent a significant amount of time in pre-sentence custody, about 400 days, according to court documents.

Acting Justice Refshauge will hand down his sentence on 15 February.