Serial burglar jailed
Cars, paintings among ice addict’s haul
A MAN was jailed yesterday for his role in a spate of home burglaries and car thefts in Geelong and on the Bellarine Peninsula in the past two months.
The Geelong Magistrates’ Court was told Sean Wilson, 28, started abusing the drug ice after his long-term partner died this year.
Many of his crimes were committed to fund his habit, his lawyer Wendy Gibbons said.
Police found the man hiding at a home in Cox Rd, Norlane, last Thursday and held him in custody until yesterday’s hearing.
The court was told property retrieved after being stolen during burglaries in June and July in Highton, Norlane and Newtown had helped police build their case against Wilson.
At least two homes in St Leonards were also burgled, with $10,000 of paintings and property taken from one of them.
Wilson pleaded guilty to a raft of burglary, theft and property charges yesterday, and also a long list of driving offences, including stealing three cars.
The court was told he was a repeat offender for driving under the influence of methylamphetamine while without a licence, even though in 2012 he had crashed a car while affected by drugs and alcohol and was found guilty of careless driving.
Magistrate Michael Coghlan noted this was Wilson’s first time in custody, extending his current six-day stint to a three-month sentence.
“When you break into people’s homes and steal thousands of dollars worth of property, and steal people’s cars, I think the community ... would expect the court to impose a term of imprisonment,” the magistrate said.
A 12-month community corrections order will await the man on his release to help him rehabilitate, and he will also be off the road for nine months.