Dylan Andrew Thompson pleaded guilty in Hervey Bay court to stealing
A pokies-playing pubgoer who took a woman’s winnings told police he thought if he waited until the reserved sign went off on the machine, he was allowed to take the money. But he soon found out he was wrong.
Fraser Coast
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Battling a drug and pokies addiction led a man to steal a woman’s winnings when she walked away from a poker machine at a Sunshine Coast hotel, a court has heard.
Dylan Andrew Thompson pleaded guilty in Hervey Bay Magistrates Court to stealing.
The court heard on March 28, about 9pm, he had been at a hotel in Marcoola when he approached a poker machine that had been left unattended.
Thompson had waited until the reserved sign went off the machine and had taken a ticket for the money on the machine, a total of $230.
On May 6, he had attended the police station for an unrelated matter when police saw he was wanted for questioning in regards to the theft from the poker machine.
Thompson told police he “didn’t think it was stealing” as he had waited for the reserved sign to go off.
He agreed to pay restitution.
The court heard he had worked as a concreter and a labourer.
He had moved to Hervey Bay from the Sunshine Coast and was working to beat his addiction to drugs and the pokies, he told the court.
Thompson was fined $350 and ordered to pay $230 in restitution $230.00.
A conviction was recorded.