Stephen James Smith pleads guilty in Mackay court to Bundaberg farm theft

CCTV footage captured a man using a plastic bucket to try and break in a farmshed before driving a stolen Kubota RTV into the night.

CCTV footage caught a man using a plastic bucket in an attempt to break open Bundaberg farmshed door, before riding a stolen tractor into the night.

Stephen James Smith told police he was looking for firewood about 5.30pm on July 8 and had entered the shed “looking for rope”.

But a court heard CCTV footage showed the father circling the Oakwood Rd shed, before he “attempted to break open the door with a plastic bucket”.

Stephen James Smith pleaded guilty to stealing and breaking and entering for offences committed in Bundaberg. Picture: Lillian Watkins

When this attempt failed, the road worker found a shovel nearby and managed to get inside through a second door.

Prosecutor Hannah Beaumont said once inside the shed, Smith “looked at the Kubota RTV’s” and several tools before he took a battery-operated Milwaukee grinder and two battery-operated Milwaukee rattle guns.

Smith left with the tools returning about an hour later.

His lawyer told the court Smith had recently moved to Mackay from Bundaberg where his client had hoped to ‘get away from bad influences’.

The court heard this time Smith cut power to the shed shutting off the lights before jumping onto one of the tractors and driving it through the rear door.

The tractor was later found abandoned about 500 metres from the farm. When police picked him up, Smith confessed to the thefts and returned the stolen tools.

Smith pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on November 1 to stealing and break and entering.

The court heard he had committed these offences while on parole and a suspended sentence for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and evasion offences.

His lawyer Aaron Sellentin told the court these offences occurred two years ago, when Smith had left a nightclub angrily “doing doughnuts” and hitting a parked car after his former partner had thrown her wedding ring.

Mr Sellentin said police had attempted to intercept Smith.

His lawyer told the court Smith had recently moved to Mackay from Bundaberg where his client had hoped to “get away from bad influences”.

He was sentenced to nine months jail with immediate parole release.

Magistrate Damien Dwyer extended Smith’s suspended sentence by one year.