Darren Quigley burst into a shop in Co Donegal, threatened one staff member with the weapon and then ordered another assistant to fill the bag with cash.
Mr Quigley (25) pleaded guilty to the robbery at Letterkenny Circuit Court but claimed he was on a cocktail of drugs during the robbery at the Checkout store in Letterkenny.
The father-of-two entered the store on August 14th, 2016 with a hoodie over his head and a scarf around his face and grabbed one of the shop assistants around the neck and held the meat cleaver to his throat.
He then shoved a plastic bag to another assistant and ordered her to fill a plastic bag with cash, before he ran off with €970 in the bag.
Detective Garda Tom Kilcoyne just happened to be in the area in an unmarked patrol car when he first spotted Mr Quigley.
Detective Kilcoyne's attention was drawn to a man wearing a padded jacket with a scarf over his face as it was a warm evening.
Det Kilcoyne got caught in traffic but circled back around and saw a man running out of the local Checkout store and he noticed the man was holding a weapon which he thought was a knife.
He radioed for back-up and the man ran towards Lower Main Street with Detective Kilcoyne in pursuit, shouting at the man to stop and taking out his official firmarm.
The man tried to hide in undergrowth but was trapped by a fence and was eventually arrested after raising his hands and giving himself up to Det Kilcoyne.
Detective Peter Cullen said that it would have been impossible to find the culprit but for Det Kilcoyne.
When caught, Mr Quigley claimed his name was 'Timmons' but eventually gave his real name.
When interviewed at Letterkenny Garda station, he said he was high at the time of the robbery and did not remember doing it.
Two shop assistants who were in the store at the time of the terrifying ordeal were also in court and their victim impact statements were handed in to Judge John Aylmer to read.
Barrister for Mr Quigley, Mr Damien Crawford said his client was originally from Carlow but had moved to Donegal to live with his girlfriend and prior to this incident had no previous convictions.
According to his counsel, Mr Quigley has tried to turn his life around since the robbery and is now drug-free and had a job in security, but lost it after checks were done and it was discovered he committed this crime.
Mr Crawford said this "project" was doomed to failure as Mr Quigley was high and lived near the shop he had targeted, with one shop assistant able to recognise him.
He said he now has two children and has been offered jobs in landscaping and construction.
Passing sentence, the judge said the robbery was a frightening and terrifying experience for the two shop assistants.
He placed it at the upper end of the lower range of such robberies and that it merited a sentence of four years in prison before mitigating circumstances.
However, the judge added that Mr Quigley had no previous convictions at the time, had pleaded guilty at an early stage, was now drug-free and had good opportunities of employment.
He sentenced Mr Quigley to three years in prison but said he deserved something for the mitigating circumstances.
He said the offence was "too serious" to suspend in full but did suspend the final 18 months of the sentence.
