Two men have admitted assaulting and robbing two strangers in a terrifying incident at an Aberdeen supermarket car park.
Barry Robertson, 50, and Laurence Stewart, 33, admitted their parts in robbery which saw the man and woman confronted with a screwdriver and knife as they made their way towards the Morrisons store on King Street.
Stewart, Robertson, and a third unknown culprit made off with a wallet and an smartphone after the incident, on February 8, in a secluded part of the car park out of view of the store’s CCTV.
The pair appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court via video link with Robertson pleading guilty to a single charge of assault and robbery and Stewart pleading guilty to two charges of assault and robbery.
Fiscal depute Colin Neilson told the court the man and woman were walking through the car park at 8pm in the evening.
He said: “As they approached the shop they saw a man sitting on the ground in a trolley shelter. They also saw two other males approaching them (the accused Stewart and Robertson) nearby in the car park.”
Mr Neilson went on to say: “The accused Stewart was a few metres away when he took a scewdriver from his jacket. The screwdriver was approximately nine inches long.
“The male from the trolley shelter then approached the man, put his right arm around his neck in a headlock and said ‘give us the lot, give us everything’.”
The court heard the man pressed a knife against the male victim’s neck before struggling to the ground and feeling inside the victim’s pockets asking if he had drugs.
Mr Neilson said: “The victim told him that he didn’t use drugs and the male said ‘I don’t care, where are they?’
“They managed to take his wallet containing his driving licence, bank card, student card and earphones.”
Mr Neilson said Stewart turned his attention to the woman, and was hold the screwdriver “inches from her face”.
The court heard: “He told her to give him everything. She had informed him that she didn’t have anything. The accused Robertson stood behind her and pressed a sharp object into her back.”
He said Robertson began searching her pockets and took a phone charger and phone from her jacket pocket.
Stewart and Robertson than ran away with the third man yet to be traced by the authorities.
All of the items were later recovered by police from an address in Aberdeen.
Sheriff William Summer deferred sentence on Stewart and Robertson, of HMP Grampian, Peterhead, until August 28 for criminal justice social work reports.
Robertson’s defence agent Tony Burgess and Stewart’s defence agent Ian Woodward-Nutt withheld their mitigation until the case recalls later this month.
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