IT was just after midnight on Australia Day 2022 when two masked men burst into the Iron Horse Inn at Cardiff and began shouting at a female staff member behind the bar.
One man had a gun, the other was armed with a meat cleaver and within a minute they had ripped two tills out from behind the counter and fled to a waiting getaway car.
The robbery was captured on CCTV and there is no dispute that two masked men jumped the counter of the Main Road pub that night and stole $3000 while two female staff members fled upstairs to a secure room and concerned punters in the poker machine room called triple-zero.
But what is in dispute during a trial that began in Newcastle District Court on Wednesday is the identity of two of those armed robbers.
Two men have pleaded not guilty to armed robbery and a jury will be asked to determine if they were involved.
During her opening address, Crown prosecutor Marguerite Vassall told the jury it was the prosecution case that the two men on trial and a third man plotted and carried out the armed robbery, switching number plates on the getaway car and choosing another target at Stockton before realising it was shut and changing plans.
Ms Vassall said the case against the two men was a circumstantial one and, by the end of the trial, the prosecution may not be able to prove which role each man played.
She read a series of text messages between the men on the night of the robbery, including one that said "Did u do ya homework?"
Ms Vassall said one of the men then searched "Stockton RSL Club" on his phone and later said "homework's over" and "ut-shay", which she said was a reference to the club being shut.
The prosecution allege the men then changed their target to the Iron Horse Inn and met at a storage facility at Wallsend, where the number plates of another vehicle were attached to the car used in the robbery.
"These number plates were put on the blue Ford as part of an effort to ensure that the car didn't come to the attention of police while it traveled to and from the Iron Horse Inn," Ms Vassall said.
She said the men also changed the wheels on the car, which she said was done to change the appearance of the Ford to again avoid being identified.
She alleged the men then drove towards Cardiff, but had to stop when one of the back rims nearly fell off. They called for help and a man arrived with a rattle gun a short time later and fixed the tyre.
Ms Vassall claims the men then drove to the Iron Horse Inn and the two masked, armed men went inside and robbed the pub while the third man waited outside in the car.
During their opening addresses, defence barristers for the two men said the issue was not whether a robbery occurred, but whether the men were involved and said there was no forensic evidence linking them to the crime and the gun used in the hold-up had never been found.
The trial continues.
