COURT TOLD OF BUNGLED BUNNINGS HEIST:
A CORIO couple tried to steal a sink, a lawnmower and tins of paint in a hardware heist but got busted as they bungled their Bunnings robbery, a court has heard.
Adam Moreland, 41, walked into the hardware giant’s North Geelong store on May 6, while Bianca Clayton, his partner at the time, drove into the timber yard, Geelong Magistrates’ Court was told yesterday.
Police allege the man wheeled an $849 mower into the timber yard and loaded it into the back seat of the car, and Clayton tried to drive out with it.
Stopped at the boom gates by store staff, the woman produced a receipt from Cash Converters.
In what was seemingly a feeble attempt to fool the worker, the document had been altered with blue texta to suggest the item was purchased at the pawn shop, police prosecutor Senior Constable Jacki Davis said.
When the staff refused to let the woman through, it’s alleged she drove through the boom gate.
But the court heard her getaway was foiled when her car broke down in the car park, so the woman allegedly locked the vehicle — with the mower still inside — and abandoned it, fleeing on foot.
While this was happening and the staff were distracted, police say Mr Moreland loaded two tins of paint and a sink onto a trolley and left through the timber yard.
That alleged theft was recorded on security camera, the court was told.
Mr Moreland and Clayton were arrested two days later, and have ave since broken up, the court was s told.
Sen-Constable Davis said the he woman had already pleaded guilty uilty to her part in the alleged theft and other offences allegedly committed with Mr Moreland and was put on a community corrections order.
Meanwhile, the man, who had been in custody 20 days, successfully applied for bail yesterday. He will return to court urt on July 12 to face a raft of theft t and dishonesty charges.