The 29-year-old man pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to theft of a vehicle, dishonestly assisting in the retention of stolen goods, retention of stolen goods, two counts of driving while disqualified, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing a dangerous article in public.
The court heard there were thefts from an agricultural business at Tallygaroopna on four occasions between November 27 and December 1 last year.
Among the items stolen were a Case tractor worth $35,000, a pressure washer worth $8000, an air compressor worth $2000, a camp fridge, power tools and hand tools.
When police searched the Shepparton East house where the man was living at the time, they found in his bedroom a bag of keys to heavy machinery, the key used for the tractor, and camper trailer keys that had been stolen from Tallygaroopna.
In an outside building, an angle grinder, battery charger, hammer drill, several hand tools and the pressure washer all stolen from the Tallygaroopna property were found.
Prosecutor Senior Constable Nathan Marsh told the court unknown people also stole a Toyota LandCruiser from a car dealership at Orrvale on March 6.
The accused man was seen driving the same LandCruiser at Congupna later that day and the following day in Congupna.
When he was driving it on March 7, a person recognised the vehicle from a social media post that said it had been stolen and contacted police.
The court heard the man told police he “knew it was hot (stolen)” when he was interviewed by police.
Inside the vehicle was a metal bar that police say had been modified to be used as a weapon, and two car keys of other cars stolen from the Orrvale car dealership.
The LandCruiser also had a stolen registration plated fixed to it, and the man had been disqualified from driving.
The man’s solicitor Ibrahim Abdalla told the court the people staying in the same house as his client had “extensive criminal backgrounds” and he had been “advised to attend (the Tallygaroopna property) to assist in taking back items to the house they were living in”.
“He suspected they were stealing the items, but was not informed what they were doing,” Mr Abdalla said.
The solicitor also told the court the man instructed that he had not gone to the car yard at Orrvale and was not charged over the burglary.
His theft of a vehicle charge stemmed from him driving the stolen vehicle.
Mr Abdalla also said his client had “made a conscious effort to remove himself from those people” involved in the Tallygaroopna thefts and had not used drugs or alcohol for 18 months.
He also said his client wanted to relocate to Queensland, and as such, asked for a good behaviour bond.
Mr Abdalla also told the court the pole and a knife found in the vehicle were used for his client’s work as a tradie.
Magistrate Olivia Trumble put the man on a 12-month good behaviour undertaking and ordered him to pay $1000 to the court fund.
She also cancelled his driver’s licence for one month — with the cancellation to run concurrent with a licence cancellation he was already on.
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