Cuckoo two sing

By Tania Martin
A BUNGLED raid on the Cuckoo Restaurant last April has been blamed on the influence of drugs and a desperate need for cash.
Former Belgrave woman Donna Hayes, 36, and her ex-defacto husband Ben Jorgensen, 38, pleaded guilty in the County Court yesterday to charges of armed robbery. Jorgensen also pleaded guilty to a charge of negligently causing serious injury.
The court heard the robbery took place shortly after 12.30am on Sunday 1 April when staff at the Cuckoo were held up at gunpoint over a bag of bread rolls.
Crown prosecutor Brian Halpin told the court that the pair believed they were robbing the Cuckoo of more than $30,000.
It was also revealed that Hayes concocted the plan to hold up the restaurant after receiving information from an unidentified source that a bag of cash would be carried from the restaurant at the end of the night.
Mr Halpin said Hayes had gone to Jorgensen’s Brooklyn home earlier in the day to discuss the robbery.
The court heard that restaurant manager Peter Uwe Schmidt was carrying a black plastic bag full of bread rolls to his car when Hayes and Jorgensen accosted him.
Mr Halpin said Jorgensen then ordered Mr Uwe Schmidt to hand over the bag or he would blow his head off.
The court heard that when Mr Uwe Schmidt attempted to hand over the bag of bread rolls a shot was fired. It was only at this stage that he realised Jorgensen was carrying a shotgun.
Mr Halpin said Mr Uwe Schmidt originally thought the gun was just a walking stick. Jorgensen was carrying a sawn-off shotgun and Hayes a large hammer.
The Crown prosecutor said that Hayes fell to the ground and started yelling: “You got me, get me up, I can’t move”.
It was at this stage that Jorgensen realised that his partner in crime had been shot in the leg and the hip.
The court heard that Jorgensen was remorseful about the shooting of Hayes and that he had never meant to use the gun.
Jorgensen told police he only took the gun to scare his victim.
He also admitted to pointing the gun at a person who he thought was the owner of the restaurant.
After the shooting, Jorgensen demanded that Mr Uwe Schmidt hand over his car keys. He also reloaded the shotgun.
Mr Uwe Schmidt and several other staff members took this opportunity to run inside the restaurant and lock the doors before calling police.
Jorgensen then drove Hayes to her home in Belgrave and instructed a friend to drive her to the hospital.
The court heard that when she arrived at the Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully police saw a hammer falling from Hayes’ car.
Hayes was then arrested and several hours later police arrested Jorgensen at Hayes’s Belgrave home shortly after 4.45am.
Counsel for Jorgensen, Greg Thomas, told the court that financial stress and drugs had led to the robbery.
Mr Thomas said the robbery had been out of character for Jorgensen.
He said Jorgensen was under the influence of a cocktail of alcohol and drugs at the time of the bungled robbery.
Jorgensen’s family also told the court that the robbery was out of character.
Mr Thomas said a recent failed relationship and financial problems had led to the raid and Jorgensen’s drug problem.
According to Mr Thomas, Jorgensen had got off drugs several years before the incident but the break up of a relationship had turned him back to drugs.
The pair is due to be sentenced today (Tuesday).