Ramraiders with taste for cigarettes sent to jail
A DUO who ramraided two service stations on one night — netting more than $6000 of cigarettes — have been jailed.
Donald Noel CollinsRoberts (32) was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment on two charges of burglary, while Karl Edgar Littlejohn (35) will be jailed for one year and 11 months.
As well as the burglary charges, he was also convicted of reckless driving and failing to stop for police while exceeding the speed limit.
The first incident on January 18 took place at 1.15am when the defendants, plus a driver who they would not name, went to the BP station in Gordon Rd, Mosgiel.
The car smashed through the glass doors and Littlejohn, with CollinsRoberts, jemmied open the cigarette cabinet and swiped $4770 of products.
The pair also grabbed the till drawer, which contained a float of $367.
Only an hour later, the group hit another BP — this time opposite the Oval, in Dunedin.
They used the same technique to break in and again targeted tobacco, making off with $1691 of cigarettes.
The car used was dumped at a rural property.
The next day, Littlejohn was spotted driving a stolen car in Hillside Rd and police activated their lights and siren to pull him over.
Judge Kevin Phillips said the defendant ‘‘took off’’, passing vehicles on the median strip in an attempt to evade officers. He took a left down Forbury Rd, towards St Clair, before veering into the heart of South Dunedin.
Littlejohn went the wrong way up Glasgow St, where police managed to stop him.
‘‘That driving was atrocious,’’ the judge said.
‘‘It was just lucky people managed to avoid collision and mayhem and tragedy.’’
When police questioned him about the ramraids from the previous day, Littlejohn confessed and showed them where the vehicle involved had been dumped.
His counsel, Sarah SaundersonWarner, accepted he had a conviction for burglary but stressed the majority of his previous form was for driving offences and was ‘‘relatively sporadic’’.
Littlejohn was suffering some personal stresses at the time, she said. His uncle had died and he was having increasing difficulty dealing with the mother of his child.
She said the defendant had been drinking on the night of the ramraids and had very little memory of events.
CollinsRoberts, a father of three, had previous convictions for burglary, the last of which came in 2011.
Defence counsel Chris Lynch said while her client struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, his increasing age was bringing increased maturity and insight.
Because of both men’s personal circumstances, Judge Phillips said neither would be able to pay reparation.
rob.kidd@odt.co.nz