A teenager threatened to "smash" a Canberra taxi driver with an axe after using the weapon to break the cab's window and steal the car.
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Banks man Corey Girvan, 19, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday, when he pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated robbery, obtaining property by deception and driving without a seat belt on.
He previously entered guilty pleas to charges of possessing a knife without a reasonable excuse, drink-driving, trespassing and providing a false name or address.
Girvan is also charged with multiple other offences, including aggravated burglary, joint commission theft of a vehicle and unlawful possession of stolen property. He has not entered pleas to those charges.
Documents tendered in court state Girvan used a stolen credit card to purchase two packs of 20 cigarettes, totalling $75.98, from a BP service station in Phillip during an early morning in May.
Shortly after, Girvan and another man used a machete to threaten a driver who had been "relaxing in his vehicle, listening to music" in Weston.
The man began to drive to escape Girvan and his accomplice, who chased after him in a Ford Ranger in Phillip before letting him go.
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Girvan then stole a white Kia Cerato taxi that was waiting for a passenger in Duffy, using a small axe to smash the driver's window and reach in and take the car keys while the driver was still inside.
Girvan then hit the front windscreen with the axe, demanding the driver get out of the taxi.
When the man got out, Girvan got in and drove the car away.
A dashboard camera found lying on the road where the car was stolen showed a man wearing a black face mask and holding an axe, telling the driver to "get out of the car c---, or I'll smash you with an axe" and "get out, dickhead, you got no keys".
Police later found the Cerato parked in Banks, the same suburb where Girvan lives.
A forensic examination of the car also found fingerprints that matched Girvan, and he was arrested in June.
The 19-year-old appeared via audio-visual link from the Alexander Maconochie Centre on Wednesday, where is on remand, to make an application for day bail to attend his grandmother's funeral in Broulee on Thursday.
Magistrate Glenn Theakston refused Girvan's application and said "the offences are so serious" that he could not grant bail, even for a day.
"The offending is manifold. There are a number of complainants, weapons used, vehicles stolen," Mr Theakston said.
In response, Girvan told the court "this whole jail thing has changed my life" and he was off drugs.
He is scheduled to appear in the ACT Supreme Court for mention on September 9 before he is sentenced there.
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