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A scenario that evokes memories of Crocodile Dundee unfolded just outside the Woden Police Station when a knife-wielding man’s brazen plan to rob a cafe was foiled by the manager and his much bigger blade. Touhid Rahman admitted to being the balaclava-clad criminal responsible for the incident when he pleaded guilty in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday to a charge of attempted aggravated robbery. The 36-year-old Phillip man’s lawyers are yet to agree on a statement of facts, but police have previously described the daylight incident in court documents. The documents say that about 1.40pm on September 10 last year, Rahman entered the La Cruzada Cafe carrying a 20-centimetre knife and a Coles shopping bag. Police say he walked to within one metre of the manager, who was behind the counter, and repeatedly started saying: “Give me all the money.” What happened next brings to mind the classic film scene in which Paul Hogan declares: “That’s not a knife. That’s a knife.” The manager told Rahman that he needed “to get the keys”, giving him an excuse to move towards the kitchen and grab a large meat cutting knife. Showing the offender that he was now armed, the manager loudly asked: “What do you want? What do you want?” At this point, Rahman is said to have run from the cafe towards his nearby unit, followed part of the way by the manager. Police say that less than two hours later, Rahman told a mental health worker that “he went to the pizza place opposite the police station, put on a balaclava and took a knife but was chased out by someone with a bigger knife”. Later the same day, police stopped him walking near the cafe and arrested him over the attempted robbery, with officers allegedly finding a screwdriver in his pocket. While Rahman was being escorted to a police car, he apparently yelled in the direction of the cafe and accused its employees of lacing his pizza with cocaine. When Rahman was arraigned in court on Friday and asked how he wished to plead to the attempted aggravated robbery charge, he said: “Guilty, please”. Chief Justice Helen Murrell said she would sentence the 36-year-old, who is in custody on remand, next Tuesday morning. For faster access to the latest Canberra news, download The Canberra Times app for iOS and Android.
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A scenario that evokes memories of Crocodile Dundee unfolded just outside the Woden Police Station when a knife-wielding man’s brazen plan to rob a cafe was foiled by the manager and his much bigger blade.
Touhid Rahman admitted to being the balaclava-clad criminal responsible for the incident when he pleaded guilty in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday to a charge of attempted aggravated robbery.
The 36-year-old Phillip man’s lawyers are yet to agree on a statement of facts, but police have previously described the daylight incident in court documents.
The documents say that about 1.40pm on September 10 last year, Rahman entered the La Cruzada Cafe carrying a 20-centimetre knife and a Coles shopping bag.
Police say he walked to within one metre of the manager, who was behind the counter, and repeatedly started saying: “Give me all the money.”
What happened next brings to mind the classic film scene in which Paul Hogan declares: “That’s not a knife. That’s a knife.”
The manager told Rahman that he needed “to get the keys”, giving him an excuse to move towards the kitchen and grab a large meat cutting knife.
Showing the offender that he was now armed, the manager loudly asked: “What do you want? What do you want?”
At this point, Rahman is said to have run from the cafe towards his nearby unit, followed part of the way by the manager.
Police say that less than two hours later, Rahman told a mental health worker that “he went to the pizza place opposite the police station, put on a balaclava and took a knife but was chased out by someone with a bigger knife”.
Later the same day, police stopped him walking near the cafe and arrested him over the attempted robbery, with officers allegedly finding a screwdriver in his pocket.
While Rahman was being escorted to a police car, he apparently yelled in the direction of the cafe and accused its employees of lacing his pizza with cocaine.
When Rahman was arraigned in court on Friday and asked how he wished to plead to the attempted aggravated robbery charge, he said: “Guilty, please”.
Chief Justice Helen Murrell said she would sentence the 36-year-old, who is in custody on remand, next Tuesday morning.