A MAN has been jailed for viciously stabbing a supermarket worker in the stomach and punching him in the head during a days-long crime spree which terrorised businesses across the Hunter.
Aaron Creighton was the "ringleader" of the crew of men who were joyriding around in stolen cars last year and committing robberies.
The 23-year-old fronted Newcastle District Court on Friday when he was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, with seven years non-parole.
After time served, Creighton will be eligible for release in May 2029.
He was sentenced for a string of offences stemming from the property crime spree in early 2022, as well as a rampage he went on with co-offender Blake Stanton just weeks after they were arrested.
The pair started four fires, wielded jail-made weapons, and threatened to kill prison guards inside Parklea Correctional Centre.
Judge Peter McGrath said the stabbing of the Spar Express supermarket owner in Morpeth on the morning of January 20, last year, was the most serious of Creighton's crimes.
The victim, who was in court on Friday, previously detailed how he suffered nightmares after the attack.
Creighton was flanked by two other men wearing disguises when they pulled up at the supermarket in a stolen Subaru.
Judge McGrath described Creighton as the "ringleader" of the terrifying events that unfolded inside just after 5am.
"He was the one who presented the knife ... he was the one demanding money from [the worker]," he said.
"He is the one who wounded [the victim] by stabbing him with the knife in circumstances where [he] posed no threat."
Creighton repeatedly demanded "where is the rest of the money?", and when the owner replied "that's all I got", Creighton punched him twice in the head and stabbed him in the stomach.
The victim was taken to John Hunter Hospital with a two-centimetre stab wound, while the men made off with $600.
The attack came amid a days-long spree.
Creighton was with three men, one armed with a crow bar, when they pulled up in a stolen Mercedes at the BP service station in Bennetts Green before dawn on January 17, 2022, and threatened the operator.
The worker alerted police and the men fled with nothing but a bag of Doritos.
The next morning, the crew pulled up in the stolen car outside the Anna Bay shopping village and robbed the bakery at about 3am, making off with about $20.
They hit two more service stations, loading $7000 worth of cigarettes and two packets of Red Bull into the stolen Mercedes at a Salt Ash business, then targeted a post office in Jesmond but left empty-handed.
Judge McGrath said the men were continuing "on their journey down the road ... essentially looking for places to rob" when they came across a cleaner about to start his shift at the Blackbutt Hotel.
He was held up at knifepoint and robbed, with the men then demanding he take them into the business, show them "where the money is" and hand over keys to the ATM.
The cleaner managed to escape and call police and the offenders fled empty-handed.
Police ultimately homed in on Creighton on February 1, 2022, with the backing of the dog squad.
He was found hiding in a bedroom and arrested by Strike Force Conge detectives, from the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad, which was set up to investigate the spate of break-ins and robberies in late 2021 and early 2022.
The strike force arrested five men.
Judge McGrath said a psychological report revealed the "disturbing and distressing story" of Creighton's childhood in Tamworth, and the trauma he had faced.
Judge McGrath found special circumstances in the case.
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