Former carer stole from vulnerable to feed habit
reasonably be assumed that he intended to commit theft there.
Passing sentence, Sheriff William Wood told Perth Sheriff Court last week: “The court is very troubled by the nature and number of those offences.”
And he described it as “rather more than chance” that every house the accused had targeted contained either the elderly or infirm – or both.
He added: “Only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney said the ages of the victims were 74, 81, 86, 88, 89, 90 and 91.
The 88 year- old male resident of Carpenter Court had left his red wallet, containing bank cards, in a drawer next to his armchair when it went missing.
CCTV was later viewed and the accused was seen entering the sheltered housing at about 1.40pm.
An 81 year-old woman, who lives alone in Strathearn Court, had gone to the toilet.
She then spotted the accused standing in the living room and told him to leave, which he did.
The woman then discovered her purse, and £150 which was on a table beside it, had been stolen.
Again the accused was traced through CCTV.
Solicitor Billy Somerville said by pleading guilty his client had saved the victims giving evidence.
A total of 31 witnesses had been cited for the trial.
He maintained there hadn’t been “any level of planning” involved, although the accused had “engaged in a course of conduct”.
The lawyer added: “He recognises the impact on the victims.
“He had lost his employment and had developed a [drug] habit.”
He accepted that a background report indicated there was a “likelihood” of further offending by Lacki but asked the sheriff consider a Community Payback
Order.
That was rejected by Sheriff Wood who backdated the jail term to September 27, when the accused had first been remanded.
The sheriff said there were services in prison which could help him tackle his addiction problem.