Bank robber who held hostage at gunpoint faces eight more years in jail
Alexander Robert Macdonald has been sentenced to eight more years in jail for 1996 and 1997 bank robberies.
Alexander Robert Macdonald, a prolific armed robber already serving life for a 1998 murder, has been sentenced to eight more years in prison. Macdonald held up two regional NSW banks in the mid-1990s with a sawn-off shotgun.
Macdonald stole a total of $96,000 from branches at Coonabarabran and Laurieton. At one robbery in Laurieton in 1997, Macdonald took bank worker Brett Charlsley hostage.
Charlsley, now 65, attended today's sentencing in Port Macquarie District Court and said it provided closure. Judge Michael King noted Macdonald had committed so many offences 'I have not bothered to count'.
Macdonald will be eligible for parole in 2034. Before his 1997 arrest in Victoria, he had killed a man in Western Australia and stolen his identity to remain on the run for two years.
Why it mattersA rare moment of justice for crime victims who finally see violent offences committed decades earlier formally punished in court.
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