A teenager has admitted carrying out a terrifying robbery at a petrol station after tying up a member of staff and threatening him with a baseball bat.
Darren McWilliam looted the Shell petrol station in Wellington Road of cash and cigarettes after turning up armed with the weapon on October 12 last year.
His victim was working alone just before midnight and had gone to a toilet to clean it when McWilliam appeared dressed all in black with his face covered.
The looter was armed with a baseball bat and had a ready looped cable tie and told him to put his hands in it.
The worker at first refused, thinking McWilliam was not serious. He then put his hands in the cable tie and the intruder tightened it and asked him how to open the tills.
McWilliam, 19, appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh today via a video link to Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution and admitted assaulting and robbing an employee at a Shell petrol station in Wellington Road, in Aberdeen, on October 12 last year.
He also pled guilty to committing the same crime at a branch of McColl’s in the city’s Gardner Drive on March 23 this year.
He had been freed on five bail orders at Aberdeen Sheriff Court at the time of the latter crime, including one imposed on November 5 last year after he appeared for the earlier robbery.
McWilliam was previously given a community payback order at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in 2017 when he was aged 16 after carrying out an assault and robbery with a handgun.
Advocate Alex Prentice QC told the court yesterday how the incident at the Shell garage unfolded when the member of staff was approached last year.
Mr Prentice said: “The accused brandished the baseball bat and repeated his instruction, stating ‘If you don’t put your hand in the loop you’ll get hurt. If you do something, you’ll get hurt. I’ve a gun in my pocket’.”
McWilliam pulled open the tills and emptied them of money before filling bags with packs of cigarettes. He then ran off.
The garage worker pressed the panic alarm and was freed of his bonds by a passerby.
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Evening Express newsletter
McWilliam’s DNA was found on a cable tie that was left behind at the petrol station and he was detained 12 days later at Provost Watt Drive, in Aberdeen.
A mobile phone seized from him was found to contain messages related to selling cigarettes.
Cigarettes worth more than £2,600 were taken in the garage raid along with £110. Police later recovered a balaclava from a flat in West North Street, in Aberdeen, which was McWilliam’s home address.
Mr Prentice said the victim was “shocked by what happened. He stated that he was panicking as he was worried about his family if something happened to him.”
After he was freed on bail McWilliam struck again as staff were closing up the McColl’s shop on March 23.
A manager was pulling down the shutter when a male voice ordered him to get back in the shop.
He turned round and saw McWilliam holding a knife. He was ordered to get back in the shop with his colleague.
McWilliam, who was wearing latex gloves, demanded to be taken to the safe. He forced them to open the safe and held out a bag for the money to be put in.
The manager managed to press a panic button but McWilliam ordered his colleague to put packs of cigarettes in his bag.
McWilliam zipped up his bag and left the store after saying: “Sorry about this guys.” He made off with £2,665 in cash from the safe and cigarettes valued at £842.
McWilliam was later tracked down to an address in George Street, in Huntly, and arrested.
The judge, Lord Fairley, ordered that a background report be prepared ahead of sentencing next month.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.