Robbery trio jailed thanks to dashcam evidence

Three young robbers have been jailed after an officer found incriminating dashcam audio in their vehicle.

On the afternoon of 27 November last year, Harrison Barrett and Katarzyna Chojnacka met their 17-year-old victim in the Belgrave area of Leicester. He got into the back of a Volkswagen Polo, with Chojnacka behind the wheel, and they drove to Vicarage Lane.

Owais Mamadbai then got into the back of the car and held a knife to the victim’s neck, demanding he hand over his mobile phone. When he refused, Barrett got into the back and the two men started punching him.

The group then drove to the victim’s home, which was empty, and forced him to let them inside. There, they stole cash and clothes. They left and once back in the car ordered the victim to contact a relative and ask for money to be transferred into his account, which they intended to make him give to them. However, no money was handed over.

The group dropped the victim back in the Belgrave area but forced him to erase his phone and throw the sim card away.

When the incident was reported, Barrett, Chojnacka – both 20 – and 18-year-old Mamadbai were arrested. In interview, they denied having committed a robbery.

However, during the investigation Chojnacka’s car was examined and footage from a dashcam was found that captured conversations that had taken place both before, during and after the robbery.

This included two significant interactions after the victim had been dropped off:

Male: “How much is there?”

Female: “I believe I deserve this money for being put through this.”

Male: “I started punching him in the head for no reason.”

Female: “It was embarrassing to watch. I was embarrassed. You got what you needed, I was not the one doing it, I was just there.”

Male: “You won’t get no money then.”

Male: “You should have punched him.”

Female: “No.”

Male: “Don’t take no money from it then.”

Female: “I was cringing.”

Female: “And a phone.”

Male: “We got the phone.”

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Male: “That ting, get rid of that. Just on the off chance. On the off chance we get spotted. No evidence.”

Female: “I don’t wanna get stopped carrying a massive f***** knife.”

On 23 May, all three pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of possession of a bladed article.

On Friday (16 August) at Leicester Crown Court, all three were sentenced to detention in a Young Offender Insitution:

• Barrett, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 45 months
• Chojnacka, of Bottrill Street, Nuneaton, was sentenced to 27 months
• Mamadbai, of Peake Road, Leicester was sentenced to three years and two months

Detective Constable Sarah Boys, the officer in the case, said: “All three lied throughout the investigation until they were presented with the audio from the dashcam footage and subsequently changed their pleas to guilty.

“It proved beyond doubt that they’d planned the offence and captured it taking place, including the victim’s voice. They were laughing and joking about what they’d done and what they were going to do with the items they stole. They thought they’d get away with what they’d done but were totally unaware they were incriminating themselves as their crimes unfolded.

“I hope today’s outcome can provide some reassurance to our communities that we have a zero-tolerance approach to knife crime and will those responsible to justice.”