Ondray Moir was given almost $500 by his wife to get the family’s groceries one evening last month. With his wages going straight into his wife’s account and her monitoring his gambling habits he rarely had the opportunity to gamble states The Dominion Post.
However as his wife was working late this particular night, on his way to the grocery store he caught sight of a Newtown bar and that’s when the thoughts of “You’ve got some free time to spend 20 bucks” started entering his mind.
Needless to say after a few drinks and innocent spins on a ‘pokie’ (video poker/slot machine) “…there was nothing left to put in the machines”. Battling with his conscience and disappointment over “…doing something I said I wasn’t going to do again” he illogically thought “…it was best to do something wrong [in order] to be separated from my wife and family”.
By covering his face and concealing an umbrella under his jacket to emulate a firearm, Moir walked into a petrol station and threatened the clerk for money. Gaining around $300 from the crime his next outrageous step was to proceed to another bar and resume drinking and playing on another machine until the last penny was spent.
Guilt-ridden, remorseful and with no groceries to show, Moir confessed the crime to his wife the following day to which she “smacked me [Moir] across the head”. Perhaps knocking some sense into him, he and his wife found a defence lawyer and handed himself to the police a few days later.
Unfortunately the victim of his crime has since been unable to work at the service station after suffering this “traumatic and life-altering experience”. Moir on the other-hand completed four weeks in a problem-gambling program to help repair the damage caused to his marriage and his dependence on this addiction.
