Tradies jailed over Bond University stealing spree

A PAIR of tradies will spend the next six months behind bars after stealing belongings worth more than $70,000 from students’ rooms on a Gold Coast university campus.

Hayden Clarke-smith, 25, and Cameron Jay Henry Fuhrman, 27, broke into close to 40 private residences on the Bond University campus between November and January.

The duo stole an assortment of personal items including jewellery, watches, and gaming consoles worth about $76,000 in total.

Southport Magistrates Court was told Clarke-smith and Fuhrman had been given additional levels of access to campus facilities while completing contracted painting works, which they used to gain entry to student accommodation.

Close to $20,000 worth of property was yet to be recovered, the court heard. Neither Clarke-smith nor Fuhrman had similar offending on their criminal histories.

The court was told the older man struggled with anxiety and depression.

Magistrate Jane Bentley said the pair’s stealing spree was a significant breach of the trust placed in them by both their employer and the university.

“You are both well-educated and I do not accept that you did not realise how serious it was to break into people’s houses and take their personal property,” she said.

“No doubt the loss of so much property caused distress to those who lost it, and no doubt some of that property would have sentimental value to it, so obviously can’t be replaced.”

Ms Bentley said a jail term was the only suitable punishment for the duo.

The pair’s loved ones in the courtroom burst into tears as the men were taken away by police.

Both men pleaded guilty to more than 40 offences, including burglary and receiving tainted property.

They were sentenced to two and a half years’ jail, to be suspended for three years after serving six months in custody.

Clarke-smith was also fined $100 and disqualified from driving for one month for an unrelated traffic offence.