A man who robbed two chemists in two weeks, both at gunpoint, has been jailed for eight years while his accomplice in one robbery has been jailed for ten years.
Jailing 21-year-old Glen Beattie for eight years and Andrew Peden, 24, for ten years, Belfast Crown Court Judge Norman Lockie ordered the pair to spend half their respective sentences in custody and half on licence, telling the pair he was passing sentences to punish them and to "act as a deterrent" to others.
Earlier he had heard that Beattie and two other men robbed a chemists on the Ballygomartin Road on 17 June last year, threatening staff with imitation handguns and demanding that the till and prescription drugs be handed over.
Prosecuting lawyer David McClean said during the incident, the two female members of staff were ordered to lie on the ground after a gun was "pointed directly into the face of the manager".
Beattie and the other two made off with a substantial quantity of prescription drugs and £100 in cash.
The lawyer told the court that exactly two weeks later on 1 July, the two defendants went into a pharmacy on Enfield Street in the Woodvale area of north Belfast, adding that Beattie was armed with a crossbow while Peden had a silver handgun.
Again staff at the pharmacy were threatened while the pair demanded drugs and cash from the till before running off with a large amount of drugs and £115, but both were arrested a short time later as police arrived as they fled.
Arrested and interviewed, Beattie - from Forthriver Green - and Peden, from Glencairn Way, both Belfast, admitted the robberies and Beattie later pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, possessing a gun to cause fear and possessing the crossbow.
However Peden claimed at trial that he only admitted the offences as he was under pressure from local paramilitaries to do so but the jury convicted him of robbery, possessing a gun to cause fear and possessing the crossbow by majority verdicts of ten to one.
On Wednesday, Mr McClean revealed that both have criminal records involving burglary and assaults but that Peden has a conviction for possessing a pipe bomb.
Defence QC Frank O'Donoghue told the court Peden was given a suspended sentence for that offence after he made a pipe bomb which exploded and "destroyed his own hand".
He added that as Peden's father was "notoriously the victim of a punishment shooting" when he was blasted in both legs by a shotgun, "it's sad that he has got himself involved [with paramilitaries in the past] in the way that he has".
In jailing the pair, Judge Lockie said the offences were aggravated by the fact that weapons and masks were used, vulnerable small businesses were targeted and because of their records.
He ordered that as part of their licence periods, both Beattie and Peden attend for alcohol and drug counselling and be subject to electronic tagging and curfew for 90 days after their respective releases.
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