Luke Darby Cranston pleads guilty to 13 charges including rural fire truck theft
The brother of a rural fire truck thief has openly said spending Christmas behind bars was ‘probably for the best’ after watching his sibling be told he would be sent to jail on remand.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The brother of a young man who allegedly caused a whopping $350,000 loss to vital rural fire services when he stole two vehicles as bushfires raged around Mackay and Whitsunday regions has said the time behind bars might be a “bit of a better lesson for him”.
Luke Darby Cranston will spend Christmas in jail after his third bail application was rejected.
“Hopefully when he gets out he can just clean himself up and bit and get back on the right track,” Connor Cranston told media outside Mackay courthouse.
Luke Cranston, 22, is charged with a raft of offences including the break and enter and theft of an Isuzu NPS 3007 fire truck and Nissan Patrol rural fire vehicle, to which Mackay Magistrates Court on Wednesday heard he would plead guilty.
The matter was listed to be finalised however the court heard there was a dispute over the total restitution in relation to the fire truck.
“My instructions are that he doesn’t wish to accept the values without the evidence, which is his right,” Barron and Allen solicitor Aaron Sellentin said.
Prosecutor Sergeant Hannah Beaumont told the court the alleged restitution quote totalled $350,000.
She told the court the service also wanted to provide a victim impact statement on “the loss of the vehicle is going to have on the rural fire service”.
It is alleged Cranston, from Ilbilbie, broke into the Sarina Marlborough Rural Fire Brigade on Tara Creek Rd on October 31 and the Victoria Plains Rural Fire Brigade on Victoria Plains Rd on November 4.
Police raided a Sarina home on November 5 where officers seized emergency lights allegedly from the Isuzu truck hidden at the Keilbach Ct property.
Officers later went to an unoccupied property on Marlborough Sarina Rd at Sarina Range, south of Mackay, where it is alleged they found the stolen truck covered by a tarpaulin.
Police allege the dashboard and parts of the truck were extensively damaged and the body of the vehicle was painted with white house paint.
Magistrate Damien Dwyer adjourned the matter until December 20 as he told Cranston “don’t come pleading to me saying it’s taking too long, don’t go knocking off fire trucks, it’s easy as that”.
However Mr Sellentin indicated he was not available on that date so it was listed for January 10.
“Would you consider a bail application?” Mr Sellentin asked, arguing there was a change in circumstance including the delay in getting restitution evidence, risk of spending too much time in custody and the fact Cranston had a job to go to.
Mr Dwyer disagreed there was a risk of spending too much time behind bars.
“There was an application … merely five, six days ago, it was refused,” Mr Dwyer said, rejecting submissions there was any change in circumstance.
Cranston’s brother said he believed this time in jail was “probably for the best”.
“I think it might be a bit of a better lesson for him to be honest, might make him think a bit more about what he can miss out on,” Mr Cranston said.
“It gives him a lot to come back to.”
Mr Cranston said this had been a hurtful experience for the family “only because he had so much support”.
“But he can still come back from this and he has still got the support to come back to,” he said.
Axeman tries to bust into home, throws boiling water at woman
A convicted sexual offender and ice addict threw a kettle full of boiling water at a woman and later tried to smash his way into her home with an axe.
‘Crash and kill us’: Man traps pregnant partner in car, breaks nose
A soon-to-be-father smashed a glass bottle of port into his 25-week pregnant partner’s face, breaking her nose before dragging her to a car and warning she was about to die. *Distressing.