A man has escaped a prison term after robbing a Silver Sands newsagency to pay his drug debt.
Michael Anthony Read, 34, entered the NewsXpress store at the Silver Sands Shopping Centre on June 5 last year and threatened staff with a hammer.
He was wearing a scuba diving hood.
Read fled with $1014 worth of cash and cigarettes but was placed under citizens arrest by two local football players and another man who caught up with him in the car park.
On Monday, the WA Supreme Court heard Read had a $200 drug debt he was desperate to pay off.
In his sentencing, Justice Bruno Fiannaca acknowledged Read had mental health issues, was a recovering drug addict and his early guilty plea.
He also took into account the 34-year-old had a brain injury that he suffered from a motorbike accident several years ago.
Justice Fiannaca also added that one of the female staff members was still suffering from the ordeal.
He said she injured her hip and knee when she attempted to flee during the armed robbery and she suffers anxiety.
Read received a three-year conditionally suspended prison sentence.
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