Montell Lewis Evans drove stolen cars from Cairns to Rockhampton, stole cards and fuel, purchased alcohol

A young man has faced court for a crime spree from Cairns to Rockhampton involving booze, stolen cars and stolen credit cards. Read how he targeted his victims here.

A prison riot accused has faced court for a crime spree from Cairns to Rockhampton involving booze, stolen cars and stolen credit cards.

Montell Lewis Evans, 23, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on August 17 to 26 charges including fuel drive-offs in stolen cars in Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton, along with using stolen credit cards to buy alcohol in the Rockhampton region.

The court heard Evans had an outstanding charge that must be dealt with in the higher courts in relation to the October 21, 2021, riot at Capricornia Correctional Centre.

The offending before the magistrates court this month took place in the weeks leading up to the riot with the first offence committed on October 9 in Cairns and last offence one week before the riot – October 14.

The court heard Evans’ spree started in Cairns on October 9 where he first stole a credit card sometime between 9.15am and 1.12pm when it was used at a service station to pay for $95.90 worth of items.

About the same time, he stole a Jeep from Raintree Shopping Centre in Cairns.

The victim was shopping in Woolworths and when she went to pay for groceries, she realised her bag containing her purse and car keys was stolen.

Evans then stole another car from another shopping centre that afternoon.

Montell Lewis Evans, 23.

Police prosecutor Stacey Bain said the 84-year-old victim had gone shopping about 1.20pm and realised about 2pm that she had forgotten her handbag.

She said the victim went to her car only to discover it had been stolen.

“CCTV footage captured the defendant driving, stopping at locations between Cairns and Rockhampton, fuelling the stolen car and driving away,” Ms Bain said.

Evans went on to do a fuel drive off at Deeragun in Townsville and one in Mackay on October 10, then a fuel drive off on October 11 at Rosslyn Bay Kiosk.

“He’s driven the vehicle nearly half the length of the state,” Ms Bain said.

He stole a wallet that day from a woman shopping at Allenstown Woolworths who had left it in her handbag in the trolley.

The defendant then used stolen cards to buy alcohol in 10 transactions ranging from $70 to $100 – two made a minute apart at Bob’s Bulk Booze – and two taxi rides worth $84 each on October 13.

That same day, Evans stole another vehicle from a Rockhampton address.

He also did a fuel drive off from a BP in Rockhampton on October 14.

Ms Bain said two months before this set of offending, Evans had been sentenced in court for fraud, stealing and unlawful use of motor vehicles and was on a suspended sentence at the time.

The court heard Evans had a 13-page criminal record.

Montell Lewis Evans, 23.

Defence lawyer Rebecca Winning said her client left home at 12 years and was couch-surfing afterwards.

She said he was at a private school doing year 9 when he started hanging around with a bad group and got into sniffing glue.

Ms Winning said Evans did not have a lot of support in Rockhampton but did have a grandmother, who was very sick, he wanted to see when he was released from prison.

She said he had been working with an organisation in prison aimed at helping him gain employment when he was released.

Magistrate Cameron Press said this set of offending was “very opportunistic”.

“You are still a young man,” he said.

“You still have a full life ahead of you, or most of your life ahead of you sir.

“I know you’ve had somewhat of a disadvantaged upbringing, but you’ve always given me the impression in court that you can do much better than you have been.

“You say that you intend to get employment, hopefully in the mining field.

“I do hope you pursue that because that is where your future lies … or if you keep offending, it’s going to lie in going back to prison, which I must say would be disappointing.”

Montell Lewis Evans, 23.

He sentenced Evans to 12 months prison, wholly activated the three-month prison term suspended sentence to serve concurrently, declared 306 days presentence custody as time served and gave him immediate parole eligibility.