Street robber said 'I will cut you over this' as he demanded victim's iPhone
A street robber said "I will cut you over this" as he demanded his victim's phone. The victim thought Lee Kutryk had showed him the handle of a machete sticking out of his trousers, but it was actually "sticks," the court heard.
The defendant fled with the victim's iPhone. Police were called after the "frightening" incident outside the White Rose shopping centre in Rhyl and the defendant, 30, of no fixed address, was arrested.
A judge at Mold Crown Court jailed him for 18 months for robbery. Prosecutor Maria Masselis said Kutryk cycled up to a group of four people outside the main entrance of the shopping centre at 7pm on December 3. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
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Kutryk stopped and asked for a light. He also asked whether victim Alfie Earp wanted to buy drugs. Mr Earp wrote down his number "to get rid" of Kutryk, and not because he wanted to buy drugs. Kutryk told Mr Earp to give Kutryk his phone but Mr Earp refused.
Kutryk then pulled up his top revealing a black, plastic bag with a six-inch-long handle sticking out of the top of his tracksuit trousers. Ms Masselis said Mr Earp believed Kutryk had a machete
The court heard Kutryk told him: "I will cut you over this". Mr Earp thought he would be injured and handed over his iPhone 12.
Mr Earp dropped his lighter and vape and Kutryk picked them up for him but rode way with his mobile phone. The victim told his friends and police were called.
The defendant switched off the phone's location service and officers saw on CCTV that he discarded grey jogging bottoms worn during the robbery. Nevertheless police arrested Kutryk in Rhyl a short time later, with the suspect giving his name as Nicky Dean, said the prosecutor.
He was searched and found to have "sticks" in a plastic bin liner and the stolen phone. The defendant's claim that the sticks were for use as tent poles due to him sleeping rough was not accepted by the Crown.
Myles Wilson, defending, said Kutryk is "shocked" at his actions and feels sorry for Mr Earp. He says he was intoxicated and wouldn't normally have behaved that way.
But the judge His Honour Niclas Parry pointed out to the defendant he claims he was under the influence of drink and drugs but he still had enough wits about him to disable the phone's location app and ditch the trousers. The judge said: "This was a street robbery.
"It happens day in day out and it has to stop. It would have been frightening because this man believed that you had a knife." The judge said the robbery was committed while Kutryk was subject to a community order and there is no realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
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