A teenager who robbed the Port Douglas IGA last year has been sentenced to three years in jail, but released on parole after already serving 11 months behind bars.

Samuel John Cooper, 19, also attempted to rob a Craiglie bottleshop with a saw, punched a 40-year-old neighbour, and smashed the neighbour's car windows with a golf club, during a destructive period leading up to his arrest.

Cooper pleaded guilty in Cairns District Court to armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, assault occasioning bodily harm and wilful damage.

During the sentencing, Judge Dean Morzone said Cooper was now a “very different young man from a year ago”, when he was “out of control”.

The court heard he had been using drugs at the time the crimes were committed, but he had strong support from his mum Rachel Brophy, the most recent Douglas Shire Council chief executive who resigned last year.

Brophy quit in May, 2024, with Mayor Lisa Scomazzon saying at the time she would be spending some "time with her family", while a council release stated she would be "taking some down time".

Cooper tried to rob the bottleshop in March last year, but fled when the attendant could not open the till.

Then, in June, he threatened two IGA employees, including one 14-year-old boy, with a knife during that robbery.

They pressed a panic button to alert police and both incidents were recorded on security video, leading to the arrest.