Drunken decision to rob Dundas Dairy with meat cleaver

Wayne McNatty (57) was jailed for two years three months for the failed armed robbery of a...
Wayne McNatty (57) was jailed for two years three months for the failed armed robbery of a Dunedin dairy. PHOTO: ROB KIDD
Wayne Allan McNatty walked into a Dunedin dairy wearing a wig and sunglasses, brandishing a meat cleaver.

The 57-year-old walked out moments later.

His appearance and a demand for cash spooked the shopkeeper who fled out the back of the Dundas Corner Dairy.

McNatty left empty-handed, save for the weapon he carried in.

When the Otago Daily Times spoke to him at his Central Dunedin home before sentencing he was candid about what was behind the ham-fisted robbery attempt.

"I don't drink all the time but when I do, I'm a bit of a piss head," McNatty said.

He appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a charge of assault with intent to rob.

The court heard McNatty had been drinking and gambling for several hours at a bar when he left at 2.45pm.

At home he donned a wig, bandanna and reflective sunglasses, armed himself with the meat cleaver and made the short walk to the dairy.

"For whatever reason," Judge John Macdonald said, McNatty sat outside the shop for a while before entering.

Police talk to a woman outside the Dundas Corner Dairy in North Dunedin yesterday afternoon...
Police talk to a woman outside the Dundas Corner Dairy in North Dunedin following the attempted robbery. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON
After the bungled armed-robbery, the defendant continued wandering around the area discarding the disguise.

"As soon as I got there and I walked in the door I pretty much knew what I was doing. She took off out the back and I took off out the front," McNatty told the ODT.

"Once I was in there and I realised what I'd done, it was just a matter of getting out of there."

He said it had been a while since he was in trouble and the judge noted he had no form for such crimes.

There were six drink-driving convictions on his record though, he said.

"Alcohol has played a very large part in your life," the judge said.

The incident, in almost all its elements, was unusual.

"I suspect most aggravated robbers are less than half your age. Most seem to be after cigarettes these days," Judge Macdonald said.

"Very few, I imagine, would be sitting outside the intended target before going inside."

Counsel Anne Stevens said her client was determined to make use of his time behind bars, having already enrolled in the Drug Treatment Programme.

McNatty was also planning on having his indefinite disqualification from driving lifted once he was out, she told the court.

At the end of August, the defendant was granted bail to work as security at the Pink concert at Forsyth Barr Stadium - looking after the popstar's set apparatus and other equipment.

But staff got wind of the serious charges McNatty faced and stopped him at the last minute.

Despite the setback, Mrs Stevens said her client had diligently complied with his bail conditions

The judge gave McNatty credit for his remorse, sentenced him to two years three months' imprisonment and offered him some sympathy.

"In a sense it's been a fairly sad life for one reason or another," he said.

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