A teenager robbed a man on a busy street and threated to stab him with a "shiv", a court has heard. Naltom Teklemariam - who had turned 18 the day before he carried out the "brazen" robbery - approached the man in the middle of Llanelli asking for cannabis before demanding money and the victim's phone.
Swansea Crown Court heard that at the time of the robbery the teen was electronically tagged having recently been released from a sentence of detention for a previous attempted street robbery in Swansea.
The court heard that when the victim of the Llanelli robbery gave a description of his attacker to police, one of the things he mentioned was the teenager's "wannabe London gangster accent". Teklemariam's barrister told the court his client had experienced a "difficult background".
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Rebecca Griffiths, prosecuting, said the "brazen" robbery happened on the evening of April 2 this year as the victim was walking home from the Harry Watkins pub in Llanelli after a night out with friends. She said he encountered Teklemariam on Station Road and the defendant, who was throwing stones at the open window of a flat, asked him for "weed" - the man told him "I don't do that, sorry". The court heard the teenager then blocked the man's way and told him: "Give me all your money, give me your phone, or I'm going to shiv you". The victim could see the attacker had his hand on a silver object in his pocket, though he could not tell what the object was.
The terrified man handed over £40 and his iPhone, and Teklemariam demanded he "do the PIN" but the victim said he couldn't as the battery was dead - Teklemariam told the man to empty his pockets and again threatened to stab him. The court heard that in "sheer panic" the victim ran into the road, causing a passing car to brake sharply - he explained to the driver that he was being robbed and asked for help, but the car drove off. Miss Griffiths said by good fortune the next car to pass was being driven by a neighbour of the victim and she did stop before driving her friend to safety.
The robbery was reported to police, and the man was able to give a description of the robber to officers including details of the clothes he was wearing, a scar on his face, his hair style, and his "wannabe London gangster accent". Police began a search of the area around Station Road and Teklemariam was found at 11.30pm. When searched he was found to be carrying the stolen red iPhone.
The court heard that the defendant was taken to Ammanford police station and while being held in the waiting area spat on the cage window before urinating on the floor while looking directly at officers. In his subsequent interview he denied carrying out any robbery - he said he had smoked weed in the park then gone to the pub, and later had met a man on the street who had given him money. He said it wasn't a robbery but a "misunderstanding". The prosecutor said CCTV evidence and GPS data from the tag the defendant was wearing showed his presence at the location of the robbery at the time in question.
In an impact statement which was read to the court the victim said he no longer feels safe going out, and said while his children keep him busy during the day when he has quiet time in the evenings the events of the night come back to him.
Naltom Teklemariam, 18, of Oaklands Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to robbery and to criminal damage - spitting and urinating in the police holding cell - when he appeared in the dock via videolink for sentencing. He has two previous convictions for six offences, including three assaults on police officers on Swansea's Wind Street, assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), and attempted robbery. The ABH and attempted robbery relate to an attack in Swansea city centre in August last year when he grabbed a man by his collar and demanded his wallet and phone before hitting him over the head with an unknown heavy object causing a gash which needed gluing in hospital. In October he was sentenced to a 12 month detention and training order for this incident.
David Singh, for Teklemariam, said the defendant had not been born in the UK and had experienced a "difficult background" which he said he would not go into in open court.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Recorder Christian Jowett sentenced Teklemariam to 45 months detention in a young offenders institution. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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