A Richhill man who violently assaulted a young female worker in a Portadown off licence before robbing the till has been handed a 40-month sentence.
Matthew Long, of Bellevue Terrace, will spend half of that time behind bars with the other 20 months to be served on licence.
The 20-year-old was sentenced at Craigavon Crown Court on Friday, having previously pleaded guilty to common assault and robbery, of JD Tipler’s off licence on January 7, 2023.
His Honour Judge Patrick Lynch KC read statements from both of the females working in the shop at the time.
The court heard that the incident happened at around 7.30pm in the evening; the shop was quiet and one of the females heard the doorbell – which alerts staff when somebody enters a shop – go off.
She came into shop front and saw the defendant. He walked up to the corner of the shop and swivelled on his feet “as if he wasn’t sure where to go”.
At this point one of the young women whispered to the other, “that’s a bit weird” before she made her way to the till.
Her co-worker went over to close the door before the defendant “to keep the heat in”.
Long then makes a move to attack the girl, punching her “two or three times”.
He then turned to the worker behind the counter, at the till, who “was so afraid at that point of being assaulted that she said to him he could have the till”.
At this point, Long grabbed approximately £60-80 in cash from the till drawer and left, dropping some as he went outside.
In a statement, the assault victim recalled “getting punched to the head beside my left eye”.
She added: “My glasses fell off and it caused me to stumble back through the door into hallway….I heard [co-worker] screaming, and I recall her telling him to ‘just take it’.”
That co-worker, the court heard, had to take sick leave for seven days. She was then subjected to panic attacks and loss of sleep. She could no longer remain in employment.
She has since taken on a new job, but she had to take a role where she is never on her own in the shop is closed much earlier than the 7.30pm – when this robbery took place.
The court also heard that if she sees a male who looks in any way similar to the defendant “I immediately panic”.
She still has nightmares and is continually “reliving it in my head or visualising him in my house at the back door”.
Judge Lynch, in reading from a pre-sentence report alluded to Long’s mild autism diagnosis in 2017 and the “accumulated stress and anxiety of years of social demands….combined with more recent adversity in the form of the death of his father. [This] appears to have led to overload and emotional overwhelm which has been expressed through physical violence”.
In passing sentence, the judge described the incident as a “largely spur the moment offence” that he accepted had “no complex planning required”, adding that Long’s clear record was also a mitigating factor.
Long was also sentenced to six months in prison for the assault, which will run concurrently to the 20 months behind bars.
