Carindale man paid for rent with bizarre stealing spree

A Brisbane man went on a bizarre, lengthy stealing spree, helping himself to everything from vacuum cleaners to Bose speakers to pay for his rent at the height of Covid, a court has heard.

A Brisbane man went on a bizarre, lengthy stealing spree, helping himself to everything from vacuum cleaners to Bose speakers to pay for his rent at the height of Covid lockdowns, a court has been told.

Daniel John Liedke, 46, wept in the dock at the Beenleigh Courthouse as his lawyer, Gemma Lawless, described how a shocking upbringing drove her client to drug use by the age of 14.

Ms Lawless said Liedke was assaulted at the age of 19 while in jail, suffered from depression, PTSD and anxiety, had been addicted to methylamphetamine and saw two deaths in custody in his most recent time inside.

Three family members had committed suicide over the years and Liedke had spent time in the prison self-harm unit.

Ms Lawless said Liedke’s offending had de-escalated recently and he had genuine remorse and realised he was the “author of his own misfortune’’.

“This is not the sort of life he wants to live,’’ she said.

“He was stealing to sell items so he could pay the rent during Covid when he was looking after his partner, who also had mental health issues.’’

Liedke pleaded guilty to a total of 52 offences, mostly stealing, fraud, receiving stolen goods and failure to appear at court.

Magistrate Patrick Murphy said the offences spanned about one year from mid-2021 to May this year and included: stealing a security system and Bose speakers from Videopro; two vacuum cleaners from Bunnings; a laser pointer and TV from Officeworks; receiving a pair of stolen Nike shoes; receiving stolen bank cards on several occasions; stealing meat and drinks from Woolworths supermarkets on two occasions; stealing a board game and an electric grinder from two Nundah premises; stealing a statue from EB Games.

Police prosecutor, Sergeant Steve Cochrane, said the most serious of the offences were several entering premises charges.

He asked for a two-year head sentence for those crimes, to be served cumulatively with extra time for multiple failures to appear in court.

Mr Murphy said he took into account the fact Liedke had spent 60 days in custody and imposed a two-year jail sentence, to be suspended after six months but operational for three years.