John Paul Sullivan pleads guilty in Chinchilla Magistrates Court to theft

A Roma man was brought undone after he rang police and asked for the belongings he dropped during his escape back.

A grieving man inadvertently handed himself into police after he stole a bottle of rum to help him cope with the loss of his sibling.

John Paul Sullivan pleaded guilty in Chinchilla Magistrates Court to theft with police prosecutor Chris Hutchins telling the court that on February 1 about 7.25pm, Sullivan stole a bottle of Bundaberg rum from the Queensland Hotel in Miles.

Shortly after police attended the premises and were provided a photo of the man who was described as wearing black Adidas shoes and was last spotted at a nearby bus stop.

When police arrived and parked at the bus stop, Sullivan was observed by police running away from them towards the creek and into the bush.

During his getaway, the defendant dropped the bottle of rum, his mobile phone, a red charging cable and a pair of dark shorts.

Later, Sullivan rang Miles police asking for his belongings back.

He told police over the phone he paid for the rum because he didn’t want to go to jail and advised them he was in Roma and was happy to attend the Roma Police Station to be dealt with.

John Paul Sullivan fronted the Roma Magistrates Court.

The court was told Sullivan was then taken into custody by police for breaching his parole after he failed to report to police.

“It almost reads as if they didn’t have enough to ID him and he, I won’t say stupidly enough, but he rang police and perhaps in a roundabout way was trying to hand himself in,” Mr Hutchins said.

“The Queensland Hotel is seeking restitution of $65 but perhaps he doesn’t have the capacity to pay a fine.

“It’s not in line with his previous history, perhaps more of a stupid decision. I would suggest giving him (a suspended sentence for) not too long considering it’s a $65 bottle of rum.”

The defendant, who has a history of serious dishonesty offences, was last before the court in Roma last year where he was jailed for 12 months for entering premises, public nuisance and syringe charges.

Further in 2021 he was sentenced to 12 months jail after committing fraud, burglary, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, public nuisance, drug offences, obstruct police and enter premise charges.

“It’s a dumb decision to make, I’m sorry,” Sullivan said via videolink.

“I wasn’t really caring about it, my brother passed away and I wanted to get drunk. I know it’s not an excuse but I wanted to drink.

“I didn’t have any money so I stole it.”

Magistrate Kyna Morice said it was an “incredibly poor decision to make inlight of being on parole”.

The magistrate acknowledged Sullian has been serving time in custody and is facing other charges so she convicted and not further punished him. A conviction was recorded.