Heist driver accused claims face tattoo mistaken identity

A Sydney man accused of being the getaway driver in a brazen daytime armoured truck heist believes his distinctive face tattoo and ginger beard could be key to his vindication.

Police allege Christopher Dallacqua was one of two bandits who forced cash-in-transit guards to the ground with military-style rifles demanding money in the city's southwest nearly two years ago.

The 36-year-old father told his NSW Supreme Court bail hearing none of the witnesses reported a driver with a crown tattoo under his left eye and two large neck tatts, but rather identified a "Middle Eastern" looking man with black hair and stubble.

Dallacqua, who legally represented himself via video link from jail, said investigating police conducting surveillance one month after the April 2018 robbery described him as caucasian.

"I have a considerable-sized beard (in CCTV stills used by police) … it's a ginger colour and it's long," he said on Tuesday.

"I don't look Middle Eastern at all … (and they) would have definitely seen the tattoos if I was the driver."

Crown prosecutor Stewart conceded the eyewitnesses caught a glimpse of the driver "in a high pressure situation", but insisted a Middle Eastern description is "not inconsistent" with the now clean-shaven Cambridge Park man's appearance.

Dallacqua is accused of buying a silver Volkswagen the night before the heist but pressuring an intellectually disabled man to list the car under his name on the sale papers in order to avoid police detection.

Dramatic CCTV footage shows two masked men threatening the guards with semiautomatic weapons near a bustling shopping centre on Mackinder Street in Clemton Park before stealing cash bags and driving off at 11am on Thursday April 5, 2018.

Dallacqua insists he was duped into buying the car afterwards, saying "it wouldn't be the wisest of moves" for him to rob an Armaguard truck and continue to drive the getaway vehicle around for months after.

During an investigation spanning more than 10 months, officers raided several homes and seized two body armour vests, guns, cash, police uniforms, a car, a boat and nearly 100 grams of ice.

Dallacqua was arrested in November 2018 but he labels the circumstantial case "totally outrageous", adding money deposited into his bank account was from his sandblasting business and late father's estate.

"I had more money prior to the robbery than after the robbery," Dallacqua said.

The court heard Dallacqua has a criminal history marred by robbery and domestic violence convictions, while his own mother survived a savage attack at the hands of his father.

"I've been going through a rough time, my father shot my mother four times," he said.

"I need my family's support."

But the Crown alleges telephone intercepts between Dallacqua and his mother reveal the heroin abuser is "certainly not a primary caregiver" to his young son, and Ms Stewart questioned whether his ex-partner wants him released on bail given an apprehended violence order has been laid against him for her protection.

In August Dallacqua pleaded not guilty to two counts of robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon and dealing with property proceeds of crime.

Justice Micheal Walton reserved his bail decision ahead of Dallacqua's trial with two co-accused at Parramatta District Court in September.