A jury of 11 people have delivered a guilty verdict against a Bay of Plenty man who has been on trial this week for two attempted robberies.
It took the jury three and a half hours to find George Matthews guilty on two counts of assault with intent to rob in the Tauranga District Court on Friday.
George Matthews will be sentenced on March 31. File photo.
Matthews' trial began on Monday in front of a jury of 12 and has heard from a number of witnesses, including the accused's cousin and the forecourt attendant working the morning of the Waihi Mobil robbery.
The jury found Matthews guilty of being one of three men, along with Jeremiah Reti and a third man Rastaman Rapatini, who were the masked men who brandished weapons, either a claw hammer or an imitation pistol during an attempted robbery at the petrol station in Waihi on June 18, 2012.
Matthews was also found guilty of being the second man involved in the attempted robbery of the Park Road Dairy in Katikati on the same day.
Rapatini pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with intent to rob for his role in the offending and was sentenced to six years on January 17, 2013
Reti has pleaded guilty to one count of assault with intent to rob in relation to the service station incident and was discharged on the second count in relation to the Katikati dairy.
In court yesterday, the jury of 12 dropped to a jury of 11 after Judge Peter Rollo dismissed one of the jurors for personal reasons.
The remaining jurors heard the closing arguments from both crown and defence.
The crown urged the jury to look at all the evidence presented before the court in the five day trial and decide on what parts are true, reliable and accurate.
'You need to sift out the parts you believe are not reliable or honest. You can test whether the evidence is relevant of not by asking if it makes sense, is it consistent and use your common sense,” said prosecutor Hayley Sheridan.
'It is up to you to determine if Matthews was the third man in the Mobil petrol station and the second man in the Katikati dairy in June 18, 2012.”
Hayley went on to talk about evidence given my Matthew's cousin Tama Martin who talked about a discussion about the robbery and other witnesses to the conversation.
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'This evidence put the three men, Rastaman Rapatini, Jeremiah Reti and George Matthews as the ones plotting to do the robbery.
'The last known whereabouts of the group put them in Waihi moments before the attempted robbery. The defence has put up a Robin Martin as someone who may have been involved in the offending. This is something you need to decide is possible.”
Earlier in the morning, the defence told the court about the trio visiting a Robin Martin, who is currently serving a prison sentence for a separate robbery on the same day, in Waihi.
Defence lawyer Harry Edwards proposed it was Martin who could have been the third man in the robbery.
'There is no evidence to support otherwise. The key factor in the case is identification. Can you positively, 100 per cent, identify Matthews as the person in the CCTV footage.
'If there is any doubt, then you need to deliver a not guilty verdict.”
Matthews was remanded in custody for sentencing on March 31.



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