A desperate addict who was scared off by a shopkeeper he tried to rob at knifepoint has been jailed for more than two and a half years.
Kaneez Nazir replied “you must be joking” when Kevin Booth demanded she hand over money from the till of the Aneka Convenience Store on Blackness Road back in May.
Booth, 34, a first offender, admitted to police he tried to raid the store in a bid to pay off drug debts.
Ms Nazir was behind the counter when Booth entered the shop covering his face with his hand. No other customers were in the store. Booth then presented the kitchen-style knife and demanded Ms Nazir open the till.
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When jailing Booth for 32 months at the city’s sheriff court, Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “You were in the grip of a serious drug addiction.
“It would be a mistake to think that there’s any simple way to address issues such as yours. Rehabilitation is an important sentencing purpose.
“On the other hand, armed robbery or attempted armed robbery in commercial premises by presenting a knife at someone who was simply there to do her job, is an exceptionally serious offence.”
Booth, a prisoner at Perth, pleaded guilty to trying to rob Ms Nazir, presenting a knife at her and repeatedly demanding she open the till and give him money on May 9.
Defence solicitor Stuart Hamilton said that Booth had suffered from a number of personal difficulties throughout his life as well as drug addiction.
He said: “In the report he has given a candid account as best he can of what happened.
“He has a limited recollection from taking illicit Valium.
“He is deeply ashamed of his behaviour.”
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