A 21-year-old armed robber who held up a Smith’s shop at gunpoint was sentenced to eight years in prison this morning.Curtis Mallory, 21, burst into Fresh ‘N’ New, on Devil’s Hole Hill, on January 2 and pulled a firearm from the waistband of his pants before forcing storekeeper Jason DeMello to hand over $500 from the till.He admitted robbery and brandishing a firearm at a Supreme Court hearing last month.Senior Crown counsel Cindy Clarke told Chief Justice Richard Ground today that Mallory, of Warwick, was guilty of a “calculated and planned” robbery, rather than one that was “opportunistic or impulsive”.She said the maximum sentence he could receive was 20 years in prison but suggested six to eight years would be suitable as he had no previous convictions and the gun was missing most of its parts.Defence lawyer Victoria Pearman said her client committed the crime out of “desperation” because he owed money to an unsavoury character and had himself been threatened with a firearm.“It started off as a $1,000 [debt], grew to $2,000 and by the time this happened, it was up to $4,000. The most recent threat with a gun actually came a few days before this enterprise.”Mr Justice Ground said he accepted the robbery itself was a not a gang activity, though Mallory had got himself caught up on the fringes of gang life.“I also accept that he wasn’t the owner or keeper of these firearms parts,” said the Chief Justice, adding that the gun wasn’t capable of being fired at the time of the robbery.He sentenced Mallory to two years for the robbery and six years for brandishing a firearm, with the jail terms to run consecutively.