Crim’s shocking record

A BRIDGEWATER man with more than 100 convictions for burglary and stealing offences has been sentenced for his latest crimes.

Rodney Gene Crosswell, 36, is currently serving an eightyear term of imprisonment after being convicted for assaulting a police officer in 2010, cumulative to another sentence he was already serving.

Crosswell shot in the direction of the officer as she tried to lay road spikes to stop his speeding vehicle in May 2010.

She was uninjured, but the court later heard the psychological impact was serious and had affected her ability to work as a frontline police officer.

Five hours after the shooting incident, Crosswell and an accomplice arrived at a Claremont newsagency in a stolen car and held up the business, again using a sawn-off shotgun, before dumping the vehicle and setting fire to it.

On Wednesday in the Supreme Court in Hobart, Crosswell pleaded guilty to one count each of aggravated burglary, stealing, stealing a firearm and two counts of unlawfully injuring property.

On July 31, 2018, while released from prison on parole and subject to a firearms prohibition order, Crosswell and another man went into a Dysart property and stole six firearms from a safe.

The court heard the guns were a mix of shotguns and rifles and that five of the firearms remain missing.

The court heard Crosswell had a partner and five children, and during his recent release on parole he worked at a winery in Richmond.

His record included 125 convictions for burglary, aggravated burglary and stealing offences. Crosswell, who appeared via video link from Risdon Prison, hung his head during the sentencing.

His lawyer, Fabiano Cangelosi, read a letter to Justice Stephen Estcourt on his behalf.

“I’ve got my life on track and I take full responsibility for my actions,” Crosswell said in the letter. “I just want to leave this all behind and move on with my life.”

The letter also said that during his time in prison his mother had died and he had been unable to attend her funeral.

Justice Estcourt said there were no mitigating factors in the case except for Crosswell’s guilty plea and his expressed remorse. Crosswell was sentenced to 20 months in prison to begin from the end of his current sentence in April 2020.

He will be eligible for parole after serving 10 months.