Nine young South Australians who have faced court in 2022 and their crimes
From daylight shootings to teens flipping the bird outside court for brutal bashings, these are the fresh-faced offenders who have found themselves in SA courts this year.
North & North East
Don't miss out on the headlines from North & North East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Plenty of South Australian teenagers have found themselves in trouble with the law this year.
Here is a list of young offenders who have recently appeared before the courts, and the crimes they’ve committed.
Ralphy Burgoyne and Malcolm Gibbs
Two young thieves who were sentenced for their “foolish and immature” crimes were warned by a judge to change their attitudes or spend their best years in jail.
Ralphy Solomon Jacob Burgoyne and Malcolm Roger Ross Gibbs were teenagers when they were involved in the smash-and-grab at a motorcycle store.
Burgoyne, Gibbs and four youths broke into SA Motorcycles at Gepps Cross on November 27, last year and stole a large number of high-value motorcycles.
The motorbikes, which included three red Honda trail bikes and a green Kawasaki trail bike, were valued at approximately $8600 each.
Burgoyne was captured on CCTV assisting in kicking open the front door and carrying out a motorbike, which he rode away on.
During sentencing in the District Court, Judge Paul Muscat said one of the boys filmed everybody riding around on the stolen bikes, which police later found as evidence.
Burgoyne, of Parafield Gardens, and Gibbs, of Adelaide, pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including serious criminal trespass and theft.
Burgoyne was sentenced to two years and one month in jail, with a non-parole period of 12 months.
Gibbs was sentenced to three years and eight months in jail, with a non-parole period of one year and ten months.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years.
Selwyn Warren
A grandmother was punched in the face and dragged by a car after she confronted the brazen thief who stole her handbag, a court heard.
Selwyn Benjamin Warren was 19 when he committed the “terrifying” assault.
The District Court heard the “elderly and vulnerable” victim was playing with her three-year-old granddaughter at a playground in Paradise on May 11, 2021.
Warren walked past the pram and grabbed the victim’s handbag, as well as her granddaughter’s backpack.
The victim ran after him, with Warren getting into a stolen Yaris.
“(The victim) reached into the driver’s side window, at which time you punched her in the face,” Judge Joana Fuller said during sentencing.
Warren started to drive off with the woman still holding on to the window.
“(The victim) was dragged by the car briefly before she fell to the ground,” Judge Fuller said.
“As you drove off, you drove over her hand causing her great pain.”
The Campbelltown father-of-two pleaded guilty to theft, assault and an act likely to cause harm.
Judge Fuller sentenced Warren to three years, one month in jail, with a non-parole period of 19 months.
The sentence was backdated to May 11, 2021.
He was also disqualified from driving for six years.
Hamish Meaney
A man who owed a debt to a former friend threatened to “shoot him and pump him full of lead” before later firing a gun at him in a suburban street, a court has heard.
Hamish Meaney was 19 when he spotted four men, including the friend he owed money, arrive at his Port Lincoln home on CCTV on November 26 last year.
Without answering, he watched them leave before exiting through a back door and into his car with a sawn-off .22. As he drove past the group he held the gun outside his window, motioned it at the men and fired.
In sentencing in the District Court, Judge Julie McIntyre said the men heard the “loud gunshot”, leapt over a fence and fled.
“Police subsequently found a large bullet hole in the cement wall of a neighbouring property, a spent .22 calibre round in your garage and another live round of .22 ammunition,” she said.
The gun used in the incident was never recovered and Meaney told police he had burned and disposed of the remainder at sea.
Meany, who did not have a licence for the gun, pleaded guilty to a charge of discharging a firearm intending to frighten a person.
He also pleaded guilty to another ammunition charge and hindering police over a separate incident when police searched his home eight days earlier.
Judge McIntyre jailed Meaney, who has been in custody since his arrest last December, to two years, four months and six days in prison. She imposed a non-parole period of one year and three months, making Meaney eligible for parole in March 2023.
Lachlan Kilgallon
A teenager’s plan to hold up a service station at knifepoint came undone because the employee thought it was a joke and told him to “f*** off”.
Lachlan Harrison Kilgallon, 19, had “lost all control” and was fuelled by a cocktail of drugs when he attempted the brazen robbery.
The District Court heard Kilgallon attended a Woodville North service station on January 26 and approached the attendant at the counter.
“You came up to the counter with your left hand by the waistband of your pants and said ‘give me the money’,” Judge Anthony Allen said during sentencing.
“The victim thought you were joking and responded dismissively by saying ‘yeah, no, f*** off, mate’.”
The court heard after multiple demands for cash were denied, Kilgallon reached underneath the Covid-safe screen and thrust a knife in the victim’s direction.
Kilgallon then demanded some cigarettes and lunged and stabbed at the counter with the knife.
He eventually left the store and was arrested later that day.
The court heard Kilgallon had consumed a cocktail of illicit substances before the offending, including cocaine, MDMA, prescription drugs and alcohol.
Judge Allen sentenced Kilgallon to two years and three months in jail, with a non-parole period of 16 months.
Due to Kilgallon’s youth and rehabilitation, the sentence was suspended on a two-year, $500 good behaviour bond, with supervision.
Caitlyn Kear
A woman who kicked and spat on officers outside a city nightclub had little memory of the incident.
Caitlyn Jade Kear was 19 when her boozy night out ended in her arrest.
Kear was at the Dog and Duck nightclub in the early hours of May 9, 2021.
A security guard approached police on Hindley Street.
“He stated the defendant had spat in his face after he had evicted her,” the prosecutor said.
Kear, who refused to co-operate with officers, was arrested and placed in the back of a police car.
“She became aggressive and kicked the right hip of a police officer,” the prosecutor said.
Kear was taken to the city watch house and escorted to a padded cell.
During the escort, Kear spat at police multiple times and on one occasion her saliva made contact with an officer’s right thigh.
Kear, of Aldinga Beach, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to multiple counts, including assaulting police.
Magistrate Roderick Jensen sentenced her to a 12-month, $500 good behaviour bond, with supervision.
Convictions were recorded.
Clayton Dacey
A teenage drug dealer pleaded guilty to hoarding $10,000 fake Xanax tablets, almost $67,000 in laundered cash, and a collection of 45 “high-end shoes”.
Clayton Daniel George Dacey, 19, is the second-youngest mass drug dealer in South Australian history – and now faces a maximum 25-year prison term for his crimes.
Dacey was arrested after SA Police seized 10,000 tablets labelled as Xanax, but which were later found to be the controlled and highly addictive drug Clonazolam.
At the time, police said the seized tablets were “destined for illegal sale” and “could have had catastrophic consequences for people choosing to take them”.
Dacey pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug, and one count of attempting to do so.
He also pleaded guilty to being in possession of $66,725 in cash, and “45 pairs of high-end shoes” that police “reasonably suspected to have been stolen” or the proceeds of crime.
Dacey will face court again in December.
Cyrus Stusser
A teenager who punched a man to the head during a drunken night on Hindley St, leaving the victim with a critical brain injury.
Cyrus Kane Stusser, of Noarlunga Downs, was 18 at the time of the violent assault on July 5, 2020.
The court heard that the victim of the assault had not been able to complete a victim impact statement because he had been undergoing further brain surgery years after the attack.
Stusser was arrested at 1.30am on July 5, 2020, after police on patrol on Hindley St saw a fight break out and a man fall to the ground.
Stusser was pepper sprayed by police, arrested and charged with intentionally causing serious harm.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge, admitting he had thrown the punch but had not intended the serious injuries caused to the victim.
At a hearing in June, Stusser pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious harm.
Judge Paul Muscat heard the entire incident had been captured on security cameras on Hindley St.
Stusser will face court later this month for sentencing submissions.
Phoebe-Lee Rose Keenihan
A then teenager made the foolish decision to stuff her drug dealer turned lover’s $40,000 meth stash down her pants during a police raid.
Phoebe-Lee Rose Keenihan’s loyalty to her drug dealer turned lover, William Geoffrey Cluney, 46, landed her first criminal conviction.
The court heard police conducted a random search at a Torrensville house on May 28, 2020, and found 135g of methamphetamine, 83g of which was pure.
“It was secreted … in a singular large plastic bag that was down the front pants of the co-accused Ms Keenihan,” the prosecutor said.
The methamphetamine was valued between $13,500 and $40,000.
Keenihan, of Mansfield Park, and Cluney, of Seaton, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
Angus Redford, for Keenihan, now 21, told the District Court Cluney was introduced to her by her mother when she was 17 and they began a “toxic” relationship, despite him being older than her mother.
Judge Raul Soulio convicted her and sentenced her to a $1000, one-year good behaviour bond.
Man framed baby brother for gruesome attack, court told
There’s been explosive testimony in a trial for a man accused of a bloody axe attack, with his brother - whom the defence has argued is the real culprit - telling him to “take his own life”.
‘It’s a f***ing tornado’: Sandstorm whips Outback as storms lash SA
A vicious sandstorm has lashed regional South Australia as wild weather created havoc across much of the state, resulting in apocalypse-style scenes.