Man re-offended hours after appearing in court

A TOOWOOMBA man caught in a stolen vehicle just hours after being handed probation by the city’s Magistrates Court has been given a jail term instead.

Magistrate Viviana Keegan reminded Charlie Mark Adams that the first rule of probation was not to re-offend while on the order and he had lasted but hours before re-offending.

The 22-year-old was also subject to a 12-month probation order imposed by the same court in August last year for a string of offences.

His response to that initial order had been “poor”, a Queensland Probation and Parole officer told the court.

Police prosecutor Julia Wheaton told the court Adams had been seen by a police dog squad unit inside a car that had been reported stolen at a Toowoomba service station about 8.20pm, March 13, the same day he had appeared in court.

The service station’s CCTV footage confirmed he was in the car, she said.

His DNA had also been found at the scene of a burglary in February in which two rings, a mobile phone, an iPad and $50 cash had been stolen, Senior Constable Wheaton said.

Adams told police the DNA must have been placed there by someone else, she said.

The woman home owner had cancer and was in hospital at the time her home was burgled, Snr Const. Wheaton said. Adams pleaded guilty to all. Ms Keegan sentenced him to nine months in jail but ordered he be released on parole on May 22.