A man who broke into his brother’s rural property and stole a range of belongings will serve a jail term outside prison under strict supervision by authorities.
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Guy Thomas John Allen’s “acquired knowledge” allowed him to choose a time when no one was home, and he made off with tools, a laptop, mobile and other items, Dubbo Local Court heard.
But the same day as the break and enter, the 33-year-old was detected damaging Gilgandra Shire Council property, and police unravelled the scope of his offending.
At the council’s Armatree waste facility, the officers also found Allen in possession of an air rifle that was both unregistered and for which he held no licence.
On November 23 Allen faced Dubbo Local Court to be sentenced for 15 offences.
Magistrate Philip Stewart imposed an aggregate sentence of a two-year jail term, to be served by way of an intensive corrections order (ICO).
Allen had pleaded guilty at an earlier occasion to possess unauthorised firearm, possess unregistered firearm, break, enter and steal, steal property in a dwelling, possessing housebreaking implements and entering land with intent to steal.
The series of offences occurred on March 22.
Handing down the sentence, Mr Stewart said the destroy property, possess housebreaking implements and enter land with intent to steal were all related.
The implements were used to remove the gates to the Armatree waste facility.
The magistrate said he considered the objective seriousness of the three offences “at or below mid-level”.
The break, enter and steal, and the steal from dwelling offences were directly related, the court heard.
“Breaking into his brother’s property and stealing therein involved using acquired knowledge - he could not have committed that offence if his brother or partner had been at home,” Mr Stewart said.
“The offence is at the mid-level.”
Allen was on conditional bail at the time, which aggravated the offences, the magistrate noted.
There was a document on file indicating Allen had a mortgage with arrears, Mr Stewart said, adding that he was told the bank was foreclosing.
Allen was also convicted of not keeping a firearm safely, possessing ammunition without holding a licence, damaging property, possessing a prohibited drug, having custody of a knife in a public place, and possessing a prescribed restricted substance.