Shane Lee Jamieson in court for stealing multiple vehicles

An ex-scaffolder pinched three Gympie Bypass roadworks machines in an effort to retrieve a ute he had already bogged, but then managed to bury each machine almost 1.5m under after a night of misadventure.

Shane Lee Jamieson pleaded guilty to charges after bogging a ute and three plant machines from a TMR Gympie Bypass site. Picture: TMR

A Gympie court has heard how a scaffolder bogged a ute and then three road work machines, leaving two on their side and burying one in 1.5m of mud.

Shane Lee Jamieson, 47, appeared in custody on Tuesday, July 4, 2023 and pleaded guilty to 40 charges, including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, theft, and unlawfully entering a property.

The court heard Jamieson was arrested on December 18, 2022, when police were called to a Curra property and found him sitting on a running tractor in the shed.

A resident at the property told police Jamieson had walked into the house after finding a hidden key, helped himself to food, drinks and a mobile phone before going to the shed and starting the tractor.

Jamieson told police at the time “he felt dehydrated” and broke into the house to get water and “call 000 for himself as he felt sick”.

Defence lawyer Laura Nightingale said Jamieson had not acted violently and had complied with police when they apprehended him.

Shane Lee Jamieson pleaded guilty to damaging three machines from a Main Roads construction site after trying to retrieve a stolen ute from deep mud near Harvey Siding Road in Curra.

Police said Jamieson led them to the scene of a stolen ute bogged near Harvey Siding Road at Curra.

He told them he found the ute abandoned in the forestry with the keys in it, and that he’d been driving it before it got stuck, and had been trying to get it out of the mud.

The ute was surrounded by three plant machines owned by CPB contractors for use on the Gympie Bypass.

Jamieson had broken into the machines by smashing the vehicles’ windows and then hot wired them, before driving through, dislodging and tangling a metal chainmesh fence.

One vehicle was parked directly opposite the bogged ute in about 1.5m of mud. The other two, one directly behind the vehicle, and another 20m behind the vehicle, were also bogged, and tipped dangerously on their sides.

When police examined Jamieson’s phone they saw a message sent at 7.10am that day saying: “Sorry mate I’m f-----g bogged in a c--t spot I’m going to get a bob cat or something to get me out...”

Police investigations then revealed Jamieson had driven the same ute with a stolen box trailer into Brady’s Road and taken about 1000 litres of fuel from vehicles within a TMR construction site the night before.

Shane Lee Jamieson appeared at Gympie Magistrates Court on July 4, 2023.

The court heard how Jamison had struggled with alcohol addiction most of his life. He bought a house and property after receiving compensation from a work accident in 2011, selling the property in 2021 to buy a caravan and travel Australia.

Jamieson also pleaded guilty to minor driving and drug offences committed at an earlier date.

Acting magistrate Raelene Ellis sentenced him to a two and a half years jail. He will be eligible for parole on October 17, 2023. He was also ordered to pay fines and restitution totalling $38,000.