Sam Alexander Brown sentenced for unlawful entry of vehicle while armed

A serial offender, who has accumulated an astonishing criminal history during his time in Queensland, has been sentenced after scamming luxury car owners online, threatening one victim at knifepoint.

A serial offender, who has accumulated an astonishing criminal history during his time in Queensland, has been sentenced after scamming luxury car owners online, threatening one victim at knifepoint.

A New South Wales man has been sentenced after he was caught posing as an interested buyer of luxury cars before holding an owner at knifepoint.

Sam Alexander Brown, a 31-year-old Robina resident, pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawful entry of a vehicle for committing an indictable offence, one charge of unlawful entry of a vehicle for committing an indictable offence used/threatened violence while armed and two charges of unlawful use of a vehicle at the Beenleigh District Court on March 7, 2024.

A Crown Prosecutor said Brown has criminal history in New South Wales and Queensland, and has previously been sentenced for armed robbery, stealing and the unlawful use of motor vehicles.

“He has a long drug history and has accrued eight pages of criminal history in five years,” a Prosecutor said.

“In September 2022 he booked to inspect an Audi at the victim’s home and took the car for a test drive with the owner in the passenger seat,” she said.

The court heard that when Brown and the Audi owner arrived back at the owner’s house Brown pretended to get out of the car before swiftly getting back in and attempted to drive away.

Judge Craig Chowdhury said Brown produced a 10cm knife which he pointed at the victim while making several jabbing motions.

“You held it and lunged across the car and told the victim, ‘I’ll stab you, you f---ing c-nt,” Judge Chowdhury said.

The Audi was discovered in a ditch at Maroochydore, the court was told.

On a separate occasion Brown posed as an interested buyer of a Mercedes Benz at a car dealership at Coolum Beach.

“You hastily got back into the car after a test drive and drove off,” Judge Chowdhury said.

“The Mercedes was found at Kangaroo Point after you were intercepted by a police helicopter at Bracken Ridge,” he said.

The Prosecutor said Brown had been released on parole 26 days before the first incident.

“He has been held on remand since the time of his arrest 252 days ago,” a Prosecutor said.

“My submission is 3.5 years of imprisonment to serve as an elevated deterrence, the victim is now traumatised and has trouble sleeping and trusting people.

Brown’s barrister said he has struggled with drug abuse since he was 15-years-old.

“It was a one off when he went to the car dealership and at the time he was dealing with aspersers,” a barrister said.

“His criminal history is horrendous as you’ve heard and is all related to heavy drug use, it’s a matter for him if he continues down that road and ends up back in jail.

“He has breached nearly every probation order so he needs supervision,” he said.

Jude Chowdhury said the community is sick of offending such as Brown’s.

“You have left the victim (who was present in court) significantly out of pocket with no means to pay restitution,” Judge Chowdhury said.

“I’m sure you have caused your family plenty of heartache,” he said.

Brown was sentenced to serve a head sentence of three years with 414 days considered time already served, he was eligible for parole on March 6, 2024.

Convictions were recorded.