ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Surveillance video captured outside the then-Ultramar service station on Freshwater Road one night last summer didn't show anything out of the ordinary. As the headlights of cars are seen moving along the street in the background, a man in a hoodie and a ball cap walks under the lights of the gas pumps toward the door of the convenience store.
Even the video from inside the store isn't particularly noteworthy, at first. The man enters and addresses the cashier with a casual "Hey," as he approaches the till.
Leaning over the counter, the man is then heard on the video telling the clerk to hand over the cash from the register, biggest bills first.
"Hurry up, b'y," he says. "Don't count it. Come on! Give me the f---ing money, b'y!" He grabs the cashier's hand, takes the money from it and leaves.
Surveillance cameras capture him running across the parking lot, while inside, the cashier calls the police.
The robbery was one of a series that happened in St. John's between July 7 and 11 last year, and on Tuesday one man went to trial for all of them. Jeffrey Earle, 29, is also charged with an armed robbery of a Marie's Mini Mart store the preceding February.
In total, Earle is facing 22 charges related to the three robberies, including charges of possessing weapons dangerous to the public — a handgun and a knife — pointing a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, armed robbery, possession of stolen property and breaches of prior court orders. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them.
He's also facing charges related to an assault that have not yet been addressed.
Crown prosecutor Alana Dwyer called a number of witnesses to the stand during the first day of trial, many of them police officers. Hossain Shikhon, the cashier at the Ultramar station the night of July 11, also testified.
"I got robbed and the person said he had a gun on him," Shikhon told the court when asked to explain what he had experienced. He elaborated, saying he had pressed a button to unlock the door of the convenience store when he saw the man wasn't wearing a hood.
At first the man appeared to be focused on the lottery tickets underneath the glass counter, he said. But then he leaned over the counter and demanded money.
"I said, 'Sorry?' because I didn't understand what was happening to me," Shikhon said. "He said, 'Give me money, especially big bills, or I will shoot you.' He was holding his (hoodie) to his chest with one hand and one hand was reaching towards me."
Shikhon said he opened the cash register drawer in a panic.
"I was really nervous and panicked at that point, and I started counting the money," he testified. "(The robber) said, 'Don't play with me,' or something to that effect.
"I did see his face. I was so panicked, I was looking at him the whole time. At some point we made eye contact."
Shikhon later chose Earle from a photo lineup of suspects, telling police he recognized his face, hair and eyes as that of the robber and saying he wasn't absolutely certain, but he was confident it was the same guy.
By then, Earle was already a suspect in convenience store robberies that had occurred at a Marie's Mini Mart location in St. John's and the Needs store on Military Road.
In video surveillance from the Military Road robbery, a man is seen entering the store, pushing past people exiting, and approaching the till while reaching inside his jacket. Leaning over the counter, he appears to point a handgun at the cashier while demanding money. The woman opens the cash drawer and hands him bills, and then he leaves.
The cashier later told police the man had demanded she not look at him.
RNC Const. Angela Davison told the court she had compared surveillance video from the Ultramar robbery to that of the other robberies, and believed it was the same man involved. She said police had noticed the robber wearing black and white sneakers identical to the ones Earle had been wearing when he signed in at RNC headquarters as per a previous court order five times between June 29 and July 9. A patrol officer who had previous dealings with Earle identified him on the robbery videos.
Davison said she interviewed Earle at RNC headquarters about 12 hours after the Ultramar robbery and compared footage taken from that to the surveillance videos as well, noting similarities between his hairline, face and body composition and height. She pointed to a height bar near the door in one of the robberies, indicating the suspect was approximately 6 feet tall.
"Do you know how tall Mr. Earle is?" defence lawyer Steve Orr asked Davison.
"My estimate it about six foot, because I'm five and when he stands next to me, he's about a foot taller," the officer replied.
"Would it surprise you if I said Mr. Earle is 6'3"?" Orr asked.
"No. I'm not good with height," Davison responded.
Orr also questioned Davison about Earle's "significant (facial) scruff going on" in the interview photos compared to the robbery suspect's clean-shaven face 12 hours earlier.
Davison said the suspect had a facial hair shadow in certain angles of the robbery footage.
Orr noted the sneakers appeared to be black and white Nike Shocks, and asked Davison if she had seen a lot of that type of footwear among robbery suspects.
"It seems like a lot of people doing these crimes have Nike Shocks," the lawyer said.
Davison said she hadn't noticed a particularly high instance of the sneakers.
Orr asked Shikhon about his statement to police after the robbery, in which he described the suspect as wearing white sneakers and having green or grey eyes. Earle's eyes are blue, the lawyer noted.
Shikhon said those were the details he had remembered at the time.
Orr asked Shikhon why he had told police he was confident but not absolutely sure he had chosen the right suspect from the photo lineup.
"It was only a picture, not an actual person," Shikhon replied.
Earle's trial will continue Wednesday.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
