Dean Adam Birkett pleads guilty over North Mackay ram raid

A meth addict caused more than $100,000 in damage to a North Mackay club in a deliberate, daring plan to support his drug habit. Find out the extraordinary lengths he went to get money.

A meth addict caused more than $100,000 in damage to a North Mackay bowls club in a deliberate, brazen plan to steal an ATM.

Dean Adam Birkett and others wanted cash – he needed funds to support his drug habit – so they stole a ute and backed it into the Goosies Sport and Recreation Club front foyer door in the early hours of September 16, 2020.

He got out and they “tied snatch straps around an automatic teller machine … and then they drove forward”, crown prosecutor Julie Aylward said.

Dean Adam Birkett appeared in Mackay District Court over a destructive ram raid.

Mackay District Court heard the ATM was discovered the following month dumped on the Pioneer River banks damaged beyond repair.

Some time after the ram raid the vehicle, being driven by a juvenile teen, crashed at Walkerston – the teen was critically injured and had to be pulled from the wreckage, while the dog squad found Birkett hiding in a nearby cane paddock.

He was also seriously injured.

Barrister Paul Rutledge said his client suffered a broken neck, collar bone and back and his left arm now had limited movement.

The court heard the destruction bill was huge – there was more than $48,000 damage and $8000 damage done to the club and ATM.

Ms Aylward said the ute, worth just less than $30,000, was written off and there was $25,000 worth of tools in the ute that were lost or damaged.

Dean Birkett once had a promising life but has spent the past five months in jail on remand. Photo Michaela Harlow / Daily Mercury

Birkett, 33, pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and break and enter and stealing.

He has been in custody for just more than five months on remand.

“The obvious reason for committing the offence was to support his drug use,” Mr Rutledge said.

The court heard he had a good working life until “meth hit” when he was 25, but he had been using his time in jail to “dry out”.

He was attending narcotics anonymous in jail and had a job in the metal shop. His mother was in court in support.

“This was a planned, deliberate criminal offence,” Judge Julie Dick said.

“To take a car and then to back in to a shop, you’re pretty determined about it.”

Judge Dick said the vast majority of cases she dealt with in Mackay involved meth.

“It’s a scourge here,” she said.

Birkett was jailed for 2.5 years with parole release on April 21, 2022 after serving 10 months.