Cop’s son busted for involvement in $25k alcohol theft

A POLICE officer’s son has been busted for his involvement in an operation that resulted in a $25,000 loss to a Roma business.

Marty Kenna

A POLICE officer's son has been busted for his involvement in an operation that resulted in a $25,000 loss to a Roma business.

Martin John Kenna, 18, faced Roma Magistrates Court on Tuesday, facing a charge of fraud - dishonestly cause detriment.

Police prosecutor sergeant Heather Whiting told the court Kenna had been involved in the operation where a primary youth offender who had been employed by the Club Hotel Motel had used several methods between December 2018 and February 2020 to give free or heavily discounted alcohol to involved parties.

The methods included dummy scanning where only an inexpensive item such as a packet of chips would be rung through or multiple alcoholic items would be scanned through, and then cancelled.

The defendant's lawyer, C Tucker told the court Kenna was a party and one of the attendees, who was a school friend of his, offered to provide discounted alcohol to him.

Kenna was caught on CCTV footage a total of three occasions, accepting alcohol to the value of $452.88.

The court heard that Kenna was a prefect at Roma St John's last year and his father is a senior leading constable with the Queensland Police Service.

The court also heard Kenna has a job at KFC and has applied for a diploma of crime and justice studies at Central Queensland University but is hoping to gain full time entry to the army.

"He didn't give proper consideration to his actions and he deeply regrets the hurt and embarrassment he's caused to his parents," Ms Tucker said.

"He has written to the hotel to say how sorry he is."

Kenna pleaded guilty to the charge.

"I'm impressed by your letter to the Club Hotel," Magistrate Saggers said.

"You need to learn that something that looks like a great idea is normally too good to be true and has consequences.

"As you get older, I hope you gain the insight in situations like this to say 'no, I don't want to be a part of this'.

"Fraud is a serious offence and it was a stupid error and silly mistake. Ensure it doesn't happen again because you have a bright future ahead of you."

Kenna was fined $750, with no conviction recorded. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $452.88 to the Club Hotel.

"Learn from this and move on," Magistrate Saggers said.

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