PEST ‘COURT OUT’, AGAIN
A MAGISTRATE lost patience with a serial criminal yesterday. It was his 24th appearance. “Twenty two of those 23 previous occasions have been at the Southport Magistrates Court. He’s just running amok on the Gold Coast,” Magistrate Cameron McKenzie said of the crook.
A GOLD Coast magistrate lost his patience with a serial criminal who has faced court 24 times, the latest for stealing and drugs-related offences.
Christopher James Lory on Wednesday appeared by videolink in Southport Magistrates Court to plead guilty to 46 charges relating to stealing and drug possession.
The 31-year-old was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail for the string of offences committed between November 2019 and December 2020.
The court was told one of the offences involved Lory walking into a residential garage and stealing a moped in broad daylight.
Magistrate Cameron McKenzie called Lory a pest who had run amok on the Gold Coast and had no option but to serve time in jail.
“His criminal history shows he has had the benefit of community service, probation and he has had periods of imprisonment from at least 2012.
“Twenty two of those 23 previous occasions have been at the Southport Magistrates Court. He’s just running amok on the Gold Coast.
“Now we’ve got 46 further charges from offending on the Gold Coast. He’s a pest.
“A term of imprisonment is the only way to go. It just comes down to what term of imprisonment.”
Defence lawyer Patricija Nedeljko, from Gatenby Criminal Lawyers, said Lory committed petty crimes to support his drug addiction.
“He started using drugs in Year 8. He started taking drugs at that early age because his father was abusive and that was his mechanism to cope. He realises now Your Honour that if he continues living this life he will end up in jail for longer and longer periods.
“He’s at the age now where he should start addressing his issues and that is why he engaged a psychologist to assist with his mental health.”
Lory was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail and ordered to serve a minimum of six months and disqualified from driving for two years.
He will be released on parole on June 20.