Former West Coast rookie Ben Sharp jailed for nine years for armed robbery

FORMER West Coast rookie Ben Sharp has been sentenced to nine years’ jail for a drug-fuelled armed robbery north-west of Melbourne.

The 30-year-old stole $287,750 during an armed robbery on a cash transport van with his younger sibling Christopher, 26, and friend Nathan Lack, 35, outside the Sunbury McDonald’s in late 2014.

Sharp, who was also convicted for trafficking 310 grams of high-level purity methylamphetamine to Western Australia, will spend a minimum six years in jail before becoming eligible for parole.

Judge Geoffrey Chettle told the Victorian County Court that Sharp blamed his senior Eagles teammates at the time for kickstarting his drug habit.

“You claimed (using cocaine) was part of the culture that existed at the football club at the time,” Judge Chettle told the court.

“You claim that senior members of the club required you to be in or out.

“Either you used or you left, you chose the former.

“Your involvement with drugs … does not in any way excuse your offending, but it does however give the court some understanding of how an intelligent and talented sportsman from a hardworking family can find himself where you now sit.”

Judge Chettle also mentioned the 2008 report by retired Victorian Supreme Court judge William Gillard, which was released by the Herald Sun last month.

“The report referred to this morning, provided by your counsel… exposes the extent of drug use at that club,” he said.

A former friend of troubled Brownlow medallist and West Coast premiership hero Ben Cousins, the Victoria-raised Sharp was picked up by the Eagles in the 2004 rookie draft.

He was delisted at the end of 2007 without playing a senior game, but made 57 WAFL appearances for West Perth.

He returned to Melbourne in 2008 where he tried a six-month rehabilitation course, but couldn’t control his spiralling drug use

Source: Former West Coast rookie Ben Sharp jailed for nine years for armed robbery | Perth Now