Man uses crossbow stock to smash his way into business to take $4k of supplements

A man armed with a crossbow stock smashed his way into a supplements store to try to settle an alleged debt but was stopped in his tracks by police.

Joshua Dylan Wright faced Bundaberg Magistrates Court after he broke into and stole $4000 worth of fitness supplements from a store owned by a former friend.

A court has heard how a man “took the law in his own hands” and stole $4000 of fitness supplements from his former friend’s store in an effort to get back cash he was allegedly owed.

Joshua Dylan Wright, 31, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Friday to three offences including obstruct police and entering a premises and committing an indictable offence by break in.

About 11pm on April 6, Wright went to the Precision Supplements store on Heidke St where he used the stock of a crossbow to break in.

Once inside the store he took a number of different supplements at a total value of $4000 and put them in shopping bags.

He also destroyed some shelving and shattered glass in the shop.

The break and enter was captured on CCTV.

Police were tasked to the incident about 11.30pm and later found Wright in a cemetery with the bags containing the supplements.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Dean Burgess told the court when officers told Wright to stop he dropped the bags on the ground and shaped up to them with his fists.

He was then taken to the ground and struggled with officers before being arrested.

Sergeant Burgess told the court Wright had a “somewhat dated” history.

Wright’s lawyer Lavonda Maloy told the court Wright had met the store’s owner through fitness activities and struck up a friendship with him.

Ms Maloy said she was instructed that the store’s owner was looking to renovate a fitness facility he owned but was short on funds and Wright offered to loan him money to help.

She said Wright loaned the man about $7500 and the pair made an agreement on how the funds would be returned.

Ms Maloy told the court the man paid back $3000 and before allegedly cutting off contact with Wright without paying back the rest.

She said before the incident Wright had been drinking with other friends when the subject was brought up and he stewed on it.

She said he decided the “recoup” his alleged loss through stealing the supplements.

Ms Maloy asked Magistrate Andrew Moloney not to record a conviction as Wright’s employment in security would require him to show cause as to why he should maintain his job.

Mr Moloney took into account Wright’s plea of guilty and that the offending “seemed out of character”.

He described the incident as Wright taking the law into his own hands and said there were other ways he could pursue getting his funds back through the courts.

Wright was fined $1000 and a conviction was not recorded.