DETECTIVES investigating a terrifying armed robbery at the Commonwealth Hotel more than 18 months ago have made a significant breakthrough, arresting the alleged getaway driver accused of using a baseball bat to knock a cleaner unconscious.
Samuel Peter Bush, 30, was arrested at a house in Maitland on Monday morning, a week after Robbery and Serious Crime Squad detectives made a fresh appeal for information and released CCTV images from outside the hotel.
Bush was charged with armed robbery, reckless grievous bodily harm in company, possession of an unauthorised pistol and possession of an unauthorised firearm.
He applied to be released on conditional bail on Monday, but it was refused.
Bush will next appear in Newcastle Local Court in November.
The breakthrough in the case comes more than 18 months after the popular Cooks Hill pub was targeted and less than two weeks after two other men were jailed for their roles in the hold-up.
John Jerrett, 37, who had a machete, and Marley Tiopira, 32, who was armed with a baseball bat, were earlier this month jailed for a maximum of more than seven years.
The pair had admitted to forcing the manager back inside at closing time and stealing $125,000 before their getaway driver allegedly chased down and nearly killed a cleaner when he arrived for his shift.
The court heard Jerrett and Tiopira had conducted "extensive surveillance and reconnaissance" of the hotel to familiarise themselves with the closing procedures.
They struck at 4am on February 28, 2024, appearing from behind a courtesy bus parked outside and forcing the gaming manager back inside.
"During the robbery, I was forced onto my knees, forced to open safes, kneed in the lower part of my neck and threatened with beheading," the gaming manager said in a victim impact statement earlier this month.
"I have been impacted physically, psychologically and emotionally... and diagnosed with severe PTSD, severe anxiety and severe depression."
A 68-year-old cleaner who arrived for his usual shift unknowingly interrupted the robbery and was chased down and bashed by the getaway driver.
"I live with a sense of guilt in relation to [the cleaner]," the gaming manager said.
"I wish there was something I could have done so he wasn't impacted.
"Hearing him screaming for help and for the police still haunts me to this day."
In the face of DNA evidence, telephone intercepts and links to the car used to conduct the surveillance and flee the robbery, Jerrett and Tiopira had long denied being the men who appeared from the shadows outside the hotel in the early hours of February 28.
But after a trial earlier this year was aborted, the pair pleaded guilty to armed robbery and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.
They also admitted to carjacking a man in the King Street McDonald's car park a few days before the Commonwealth Hotel robbery after prosecutors agreed to withdraw a charge of conspiring to rob another Hunter pub in early March 2024.
The identity of the getaway driver had long been a mystery, but police say they never gave up and allege their extensive inquiries led them to a home on Skilton Avenue in Maitland on Monday where they arrested Bush.
The arrest came after detectives last week released images of a vehicle and a man they believe may be able to assist with inquiries.
The vehicle was described as a white Mercedes-Benz A190 hatchback, with damage on the rear left side of the passenger door.
Police described the man as wearing a hooded jumper, baseball cap, tracksuit pants and black shoes with a distinctive white mark or stain on the right shoe.
