Scott James Brough in court for unlawful entry
A young Gympie couchsurfer who faced a litany of charges had nowhere to call home when he embarked on a spate of petty crimes that eventually put him behind bars. Read what the court heard:
Police & Courts
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A homeless former Nolan Meats employee was sentenced in Gympie court on Tuesday after he broke into a service station and stole cash from a hotel in Gympie.
Scott James Brough, 23, pleaded guilty in custody via video link to 10 charges, including drink driving, two counts of possessing drug utensils, obstructing police, climbing up a semi trailer to escape police, stealing, contravening a police direction, unlawful entry to commit a indictable offence, refusing to provide a full name to police and failing to appear in court.
Gympie Magistrates Court heard Brough drove while drunk on his Ps and had a BAC of 0.083 on December 31, 2021 on Fairview Road, Gympie.
He ran away and climbed on a semi-trailer truck to escape police on January 17, 2022 and was found with a pipe used to smoke drugs in Banyo on the same day, the court heard.
On January 31, Brough stole $150 from the cash register of the Royal Hotel while the staff was occupied by other matters, though $95 of the stolen money was eventually returned, the court heard.
He had two pipes, an electric grinder and scissors used for smoking drugs in his possession that day.
A few months later, Brough broke into the Puma Service Station at Kybong on June 9, the court heard.
Police were alerted that alarms had been activated at the Old Bruce Highway site near Gympie at 1.22am.
Police were later informed that a person was spotted inside before crossing the roof, jumping off the building and running into nearby farmland.
Brough gave police a false name when they found and arrested him after searching the area.
Prior to his arrest, he was homeless, he was couchsurfing, duty lawyer Chris Anderson said.
He also worked at Nolan Meats for a short while, the court heard
He was sentenced to a total of 12 months jail and immediately released on parole. He will be on parole for nine-and-a-half months, having already served two-and-a-half months in jail.
Brough was fined $500 referred to SPER for drink driving and disqualified from driving for three months, and ordered to pay $55 to the Royal Hotel.
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