Magistrate has claimed.

Magistrate Edward King spoke out as he remanded 24-year-old Shannon Looby until Tuesday when prosecutors are expected to present new charges.

Mr. King said prosecutors should change two charges each of stealing, threatening behaviour, and possessing an offensive weapons to two counts of robbery.

Police arrested Looby on Thursday evening in relation to two thefts at two supermarkets just an hour before.

But Mr. King told Police prosecutor Sgt. Phil Taylor: "I'm not telling you what to do. But you can come back and decide what you're going to do with this.'' "This is watering down two offences into six,'' he added. "That ain't right.

I'm not afraid to do what I have to do. I think the charges should be laid properly or not at all!'' Mr. King said: "I consider it the duty of a magistrate or judge to see that the letter of the law is done. These charges constitute robbery.'' Police say a man brandished a machete at a staff member of the Shopping Centre on Victoria Street at 6.15 p.m. on Thursday after walking out with a $14.55 bottle of wine.

When challenged, the man fled, and less than an hour later, allegedly stole a bottle of wine worth $9.75 from the MarketPlace on Church Street.

Police alleged he brandished a machete and used threatening words to the assistant manager.

Looby -- who said he lived in an abandoned car -- was arrested by Police around 7.30 p.m. in Hamilton where he was searched and detained.

Mr. King told Sgt. Taylor that Looby should be presented before him on Tuesday when the hearing will continue.

Looby had originally pleaded guilty to two charges of stealing the wine bottles, two charges of threatening behaviour, and one offensive weapon charge.

He had also elected to be tried in the lower court rather than the Supreme Court before a judge and jury. At least two of the charges are indictable and triable in the higher court.

As Sgt. Taylor began to read the sixth charge of having an offensive weapon, Mr. King stopped him and asked to hear the particulars of the offences.

"People don't understand. They didn't understand with those two young men last month,'' Mr. King said, referring to a case where his decision to remand two teenagers was heavily criticised.

`It's not the amount stolen, it's the act of robbery,'' he added. "It's not how much, it's what you do to get it.'' He explained that section 344 of the Criminal Code directs that if an offender uses or threatens to use a weapon in order to obtain or retain goods, they are guilty of robbery.