June 23, 2014
A 19-year-old former Nanango youth was sentenced to a total of eight months jail after he pleaded guilty to more than 30 charges when he appeared in Kingaroy Magistrates Court today.
The court was told Dominic Julian Smith was aged 18 and homeless when most of the offences were committed.
He was also on probation and under a community service order at the time.
The charges included multiple counts of trespass and breaching bail conditions, relating to Smith continuing to return to the Sunshine Plaza shopping centre at Maroochydore despite a banning order.
Police Prosecutor Wayne Bushell said Smith had been banned from the centre after being caught shoplifting. Police had attempted to reinforce this ban by adding it to his bail conditions.
Solicitor Mark Werner, for Smith, said his client was homeless and continued returning to centre to find somewhere to sleep.
Smith also pleaded guilty to contravening a police requirement, failing to appear at Nanango Magistrates Court, stealing four chocolate bars and a bottle of soft drink, trespassing at Maroochydore State High School and stealing a bicycle, and stealing a mobile phone.
Smith also admitted smoking marijuana in a shed in a vacant yard, which resulted in charges of possessing cannabis, unlawfully entering a yard, possessing drug utensils and a bong.
He also admitted driving an unregistered and uninsured car with false plates on Alford Street, Kingaroy, while unlicensed; and being involved in an incident in Murgon when rocks were thrown at a phone box, smashing the glass.
Smith also pleaded guilty to ripping up a watch house blanket after he was placed in a cell.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall said the most serious charge involved an incident at Maroochydore State School when Smith admitted being with a group of juveniles who broke into a storage shed. Game controllers were taken from the shed and kicked around the school’s oval. Two large roller doors were also badly damaged – although Smith said he had not done this and had not entered the shed.
Smith was ordered to pay $300 restitution for the stolen phone, $29.55 for the blanket, $350.20 for the phone box, $26.70 restitution to 7-Eleven for stolen goods, and $1500 for his share of the damage to the school’s roller doors.
Probation and Parole Officer Ms Libby Bateman said Smith showed blatant disregard to any form of authority. He had failed to report on 19 occasions, had been convicted of another offence while on probation, had completed just 20 hours of his 80-hour community service order and had failed to attend six disciplinary interviews.
“Numerous opportunities have been given to Mr Smith. He hasn’t listened,” Ms Bateman said.
Magistrate Bucknall said Smith was “a law unto himself” who had simply thumbed his nose at both the courts and the Department of Corrective Services.
He revoked the previous probation order and community service order and re-sentenced Smith to six months jail, to be wholly suspended until his release from prison.
Mr Bucknall then sentenced Smith to multiple jail terms on the fresh charges, all to be served concurrently and totalling eight months.
He fixed a parole release date of September 12, 2014, after which time Smith would be subject to the suspended sentence for a total of 18 months.
