Thief threatens guard
‘Don’t be a hero, or I’ll stick a blade in you’
A man who was looking through people’s cars while high on drugs also threatened a security guard at a hospital and said he would stick a blade in him.
Thomas Hoare, 21, last week pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court to theft and obtaining goods by deception.
A statement of police facts read out to the court revealed Hoare, alongside a co-accused who is yet to be spoken to, stole numerous items from vehicles in Geelong carparks.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Andrew Clapham said on February 10, Hoare and the alleged co-accused stole a number of items from a Toyota Corolla on Park St, which included a wallet containing bank cards, selfie sticks, a gym bag and sunglasses.
At 3.30am, Hoare visited a 7-Eleven in Sydney Pde and bought cigarettes and a number of other items valued at $243 with the bank card he stole.
At 3.45am the same morning, Hoare and his co-accused were out the front of the hospital carpark and were spoken to by a member of security regarding their suspicious behaviour.
Hoare and the alleged coaccused were seen looking through car windows and a member of the security told them to move away from the carpark.
The court heard Hoare said to the security officer, “if you are not police, you can get f----d” and “don’t be a hero, or I’ll stick a blade in you”.
He was located by police a short time later and taken to the Geelong police station.
Hoare’s lawyer said her client started to experiment with drugs at the age of 17 and that her client could provide no explanation for his offending.
“He can’t explain this behaviour, it was simply a result of an intoxicated state. He understands his conduct was wrong,” she said.
Magistrate Michelle Hodgson said people were entitled to go to work without having their possessions stolen from their cars.
Hoare was sentenced to a 12-month community correction order.
No conviction was recorded.