A teenager who robbed two Canberra shop attendants while armed with a knife has sobbed in court, saying she was "just following mum".
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Jasmin Parker, 19, who was also with her mother while attempting to rob a hospital staff, dodged jail when she appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday.
But the threat of prison still hangs over her head after Justice John Burns imposed a deferred sentence order.
Parker pleaded guilty in September to two counts of aggravated robbery and one of attempted aggravated robbery.
Her mother, Crystal Jeanette Parker, pleaded guilty to the same charges and has been referred to the court's drug and alcohol sentencing list.
Court documents say that about 6pm on May 20 last year, Jasmin Parker brandished a knife as she approached a Calvary John James Hospital staff member in a hospital office.
She told the victim to "give us the money" and lunged forward with the knife, causing the victim to scream in fear.
The victim heard Jasmin Parker say, "Mum, it's not her", as the teenager turned around and walked away.
Less than an hour later, the Parkers entered a supermarket in Braddon and approached the shop attendant with a can of Smirnoff pre-mixed vodka.
The attendant saw that Jasmin Parker, who said she wanted money, had a knife.
The attendant screamed as Jasmin Parker pointed the knife towards her and threatened to stab her.
Crystal Parker opened the cash register and grabbed $1590.
The Parkers then ran away with the money and vodka.
A little more than two months later, about 8.30pm on July 23 last year, the Parkers went to an Asian grocery store in Dickson.
Jasmin Parker asked the shop attendant, who was working alone, for help at the back of the store.
While distracted, the attendant heard the cash register opening and went back to the front to see Crystal Parker walking out from behind the counter.
The cash drawer was open and money that had been inside it was missing.
The attendant and a friend of hers both tried to stop the Parkers leaving, but Jasmin Parker threatened them with a knife estimated to have a 20-centimetre blade.
The Parkers were seen getting into a white Mitsubishi sedan, which police traced to a home in Stirling later that night.
Police searched the car, finding cash and a knife with a 20-centimetre blade.
Crystal Parker was arrested at the Stirling address and told police her daughter had been her co-offender.
Jasmin Parker was arrested in NSW on July 25 last year and was extradited to the ACT, spending three weeks in custody before being granted bail.
Jasmin Parker told the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday she regretted her crimes and took full responsibility for her part in them.
She told the court she was "freaking out" while waiting to learn her fate, and that seeing the fear on her victims' faces was the worst feeling she had experienced.
She said she never got to spend time with her mother as a child, and her mother had just returned to the area after a long time away when the incidents took place.
"The first time she messaged me to hang out with her was to go and do this," Jasmin Parker told the court through tears.
She said her mother "rocked up, texted" and said she was coming to see her.
She told the court she initially did not know what they were going to do, but her mother handed her a knife she had in the car and told her, 'Let's go'."
"I just wanted to be with my mum," she said when asked why she took part in the crimes.
"I was just following my mum."
She said she would never reoffend and now wanted nothing to do with her mother, wishing she had just told her to "go away".
Justice Burns told the teenager he would defer her sentencing for six months, imposing several conditions including that she undertake drug and alcohol counselling and not use alcohol or illicit drugs.
He said if Jasmin Parker complied with the conditions, he would defer sentencing for a further six months.
The judge said that in a year, if she had continued to comply and stayed out of trouble, she would receive a suspended jail sentence.
But Justice Burns warned that if the 19-year-old breached the terms of the deferred sentence order, she would likely spend "a lengthy period of time" in jail.
