A MAN accused of using a syringe to hold up a bakery at Charlestown Square on Sunday morning has been refused bail in Newcastle Local Court.
Brendan Nelson, 33, of Windale, was represented by solicitor Kristy Winter when he appeared in court on Tuesday charged with armed robbery.
Mr Nelson, who was on bail at the time of the hold up, did not enter a plea or apply for bail and his matter was adjourned until September.
Police say they were called to the bakery on the ground floor of the Pearson Street shopping centre about 7.30am on Sunday after reports of a robbery.
Lake Macquarie police arrived and were told a man had approached the counter and threatened an employee with a syringe.
The employee, a 25-year-old man, told police the man demanded money before taking an amount of cash and walking through the shopping centre before exiting onto Frederick Street.
The employee was not injured during the incident.
After police reviewed CCTV footage from the shopping centre and made other inquiries, officers went to a home at South Street at Windale about 4pm on Sunday and arrested Mr Nelson.
He was charged and refused bail by police, who applied for a detention application to have him locked up.
The detention application was not opposed in court on Tuesday and Mr Nelson will next appear in Belmont Local Court on September 6.
