REVEALED: 6 Gympie seniors in trouble with the law in 2020
From stealing from the disabled to producing drugs, here are six elderly Gympie residents who found themselves in court last year.
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These elderly Gympie region residents were due in court on a range of matters last year due to their illegal behaviour.
From stealing from a disabled person to drug crime, here are five shocking crimes committed by over 60s.
1. 69yo diabetic pensioner stole $9k from disabled woman
A 41-year-old wheelchair-bound disabled woman who cannot speak has lost $9000 after it was stolen by the man charged with looking after her finances.
Her bank account was originally managed by her grandmother, but control was handed over to 69-year-old Dennis Mervyn Middleton, of Gympie, when the grandmother developed dementia.
Dennis Mervyn Middleton, 69, pleaded guilty to seven stealing charges and one fraud charge at the Gympie Magistrates Court.
Middleton was handed a 12-month jail sentence, with the first three to be served behind bars and the remainder be suspended for two years.
2. Retiree admits to drink-driving five times over limit
A self-funded Gympie retiree was more than five times the limit when he crashed his car in Channon Street.
Ian Arthur Moore, 64, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court in April 2020 to driving with a blood-alcohol level of .261 on December 15, 2019.
Police prosecutor Michael Phillips said police attended a two-vehicle traffic crash about 1.25pm that day.
“The defendant (driving a Honda Jazz hatchback) was turning left out of Nash St on to Channon St when he took a wide turn and hit a trailer (which was being towed by an Isuzu 4WD ute in Channon St towards Horseshoe Bend),” he said.
He was fined $1200 and was disqualified from driving for 14 months.
3. Man fired rifle into ‘terrifying’ neighbour’s yard
A Gympie man who fired his rifle into his neighbour's yard said he wanted the man to know what it was like to be afraid in his own home.
On July 19, Raymond Alan Schmidt, 67, who had been drinking throughout the day, got into an argument with his neighbour, who Schmidt and his partner had an ongoing dispute with.
The neighbour had previously been accused of poisoning one of Schmidt‘s dogs, and scaring them enough that they behaved nervously around him.
After the argument Schmidt went back into his house, grabbed his 0.223 rifle and fired a shot into his neighbour's yard, to alarm him and make feel what it was like to be “scared in his own home”.
He was fined $400 and no conviction was recorded.
4. 60yo blows three times limit while camping
Phillip Gregory Yule, 60, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in the Six Mile Rest Area on August 26, 2020.
The court heard Yule, drove his vehicle about 20m before being breath tested and returning a reading of .181.
He was $1000 and banned from driving for nine months.
5. Tin Can Bay grandma caught on CCTV stealing
A grandmother caught stealing a wallet full of cash from a Tin Can Bay store had a history of stealing dating back to the 1970s, a Gympie court has been told.
Debra Anne Pedley, 61, stole a wallet containing $270 cash which had been left by a customer at a Tin Can Bay newsagency on March 18, 2020.
Pedley faced Gympie Magistrates Court in August and pleaded guilty to stealing the wallet.
The victim, a customer served before Pedley, accidentally left his wallet behind, and after completing her transaction Pedley walked past it, placed her hand over it while holding other items to hide it, and picked it up.
6. Gympie man says he grew weed ‘for research purposes’
A retired Gympie region man who claimed he grew 11 marijuana plants at his Glenwood home “for research purposes” was told to get smart about his drug use in court.
Atkinson pleaded guilty to one count each of producing cannabis, possessing cannabis and possessing a water pipe used in connection with smoking a dangerous drug.
Graham Edward Atkinson, 61, came home to his Glenwood address on November 24 last year to find police conducting a search warrant, which turned up the plants varying in height from 30cm to 60cm, the Gympie Magistrates Court heard this week.
Magistrate Chris Callaghan said he found that excuse “inherently improbable” considering Atkinson also handed over a “small quantity” of marijuana and a glass pipe.
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