Daniel Falkiner jailed for heartless home invasions on single mothers

A single mother who recently lost her husband in a car crash was robbed of his precious possessions – all so a man could pay off his girlfriend’s drug debt.

A grieving widow is distressed that she won’t have many mementos of her late husband to pass on to her children after a cruel thief broke into their house and robbed them.

Daniel Falkiner, 36, was high on meth when he committed heartless home invasions on single mothers.

The Adelaide District Court heard Falkiner broke into a Prospect house on January 21, 2021 and stole jewellery, watches and electronics valued at over $125,000.

Falkiner then broke into an Ovingham house on February 11, 2021 and stole jewellery, clothing and electronics valued at over $50,000.

“You were connected to both robberies by DNA and the second incident at Ovingham was also captured on CCTV,” Judge Julie McIntyre said during sentencing.

The court heard the Ovingham victim was a single mother whose husband had been killed in a car accident less than a year earlier.

“The items that you stole were of immense sentimental value, some were items given to her by her late husband and others were items belonging to him,” Judge McIntyre said.

“She is very distressed that she now has very few things of her late husband to pass on to their children.”

The court heard the Prospect victims were also a single mother and her children.

“The homeowner says that the sanctuary that she’s made for herself, and her children has been invaded and her children traumatised,” Judge McIntyre said.

Daniel Falkiner was jailed for two counts of serious criminal trespass and theft. Photo: Facebook

The Medindie father pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal trespass and theft.

The court heard Falkiner was released from jail for previous offending he resumed living with his partner and became aware she had a large drug debt.

“The people who were trying to enforce that debt turned to you to repay it,” Judge McIntyre said.

“Your motivation in committing these offences was to gain money to repay the debt.”

The court heard Falkiner, who was a heavy user of methamphetamine, was under the influence at the time of the offending.

“You are no longer in a relationship with your former partner and you recognise that you cannot be in a relationship with other drug users because inevitably you end up taking drugs again,” Judge McIntyre said.

The court heard Falkiner had written a letter of apology to his victims.

“You say that if you were in the right state of mind and understood the impact of your offending you would never have committed these offences,” Judge McIntyre said.

“Whilst I accept that this is a genuine and heartfelt apology, the regrettable truth is that you have a dreadful record of prior offending of a similar type.”

Judge McIntyre sentenced Falkiner to four years and three months jail, with a non-parole period of three years and five months.

“You cannot break into people’s houses to steal things, no matter what is going on in your own life,” she said.

The sentence was backdated to February 16, 2021.