A man escaped time in jail yesterday after attempting to rob a grocery store and labelling it 'a joke'.

Antoine Francis, 39, was given two years probation after he entered the Empire store in Devonshire with a bandana over his face and told the 72-year-old owner: "Stick 'em up, this is a robbery."

Francis, a father of four, explained to the court he was driven to rob the store due to family-related stress and said he wanted to straighten himself up to be a better example to his 19-year-old son.

"I need to straighten myself up for my son to take me seriously," he said.

Francis, of Friswells Hill, Pembroke, was a youth worker at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute at the time of the offence on March 11. Since then, he has been unemployed, though he said yesterday he had lined up a job in construction.

The court heard that Francis has been battling a drug addiction for the past five years, but he said he didn't get proper treatment because he was afraid of being ostracised by his co-workers.

Though Francis originally called the attempted robbery a joke, yesterday he said: "I know the seriousness of the crime and I am very remorseful for it."

Crown counsel Maria Sofianos suggested a jail sentence was necessary, and believed Francis needed "a short, sharp, shock for the region of three to six months, followed by a time of probation".

However, defence lawyer Mark Daniels stated that the nature of this specific offence, not the charge, did not warrant his client to be separated from society.

Magistrate Juan Wolffe took into account Francis' previously good character and the fact he is actively pursuing drug treatment, before sentencing him to probation.