Thomas John Petzler-Gray convicted of trespassing at Soldiers Rd, Bowen property

A magistrate had a stern warning for an 18 year old caught trying to get into a locked ute in the middle of the night.

A Bowen high-school dropout caught creeping around a neighbour’s carport in the middle of the night has been convicted of trespassing and told to keep his hands to himself.

Thomas John Petzler-Gray, 18, and a juvenile co-offender went to a Soldiers Rd residential property just after 11.30pm on May 20 and tried to open the driver’s door of a dual-cab ute parked in the carport, then fled the scene on foot when they realised CCTV cameras were filming them.

Petzler-Gray declined a police interview in September but at Bowen Magistrates Court this week pleaded guilty to trespassing.

The court heard he had left school in Year 9, had recently got a job labouring on a Soldiers Rd farm.

The court heard the 18 year old tried to get into a locked car but fled on foot when he realised cameras were watching. Picture: File

Magistrate James Morton said it was obvious what the pair was trying to do before realising they had been caught on camera.

“You’re sneaking around here for good reason, aren’t you? Thieving,” Mr Morton said.

The sentence was a $250 fine, with a conviction recorded, and a warning about what could happen if he tried something similar again.

“Let me be very clear with you, Tom- you go sneaking around people’s properties – somebody may come out and take offence to you being there”, Mr Morton said.

“When you get caught and somebody gives you a clap across the ear – obviously the court doesn’t condone anybody taking the law into their own hands but that’s what people can do, you understand?

“So you keep your hands to yourself.

“If you’ve got your little farm job, make sure you don’t do anything to find yourself sitting in the can over there.”