Clontarf tradie spared jail time after pleading his case to the magistrate
Having a job has saved a southeast Queensland tradie – who was charged with a number of offences including animal cruelty, stealing and unlawful use of a motor vehicle – from spending a year behind bars.
Moreton
Don't miss out on the headlines from Moreton. Followed categories will be added to My News.
If he hadn’t mentioned to the magistrate he had a job, a 27-year-old Clontarf tradie would be spending months behind bars.
Darcy John Coutts appeared in Redcliffe Magistrates Court today and pleaded guilty to a number of charges including animal cruelty offences, trespass, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and stealing.
The court heard that between May 12 and 18, 2019, Coutts was given care of a kelpie dog named Buddy, which had been handed in to the RSPCA.
Buddy was owned by Coutts and his former partner.
Coutts was told to take Buddy to a vet for medical treatment as he had been hit by a car.
The Clontarf man failed to do so and the RSPCA seized and rehomed the dog.
Further to this the court heard Coutts failed to pay an $80 taxi fare after catching a ride home from a Brisbane hospital on December 18 last year.
Coutts continued to rack up offences this year stealing fuel from a Deception Bay service station on March 8.
He was then caught trespassing at the Redcliffe Leagues Club Softball grounds on March 26.
On April 16 Coutts entered a shed in a backyard and stole a motorcycle.
He took the motorcycle for a day and then left it against a tree in a park with no fuel in it.
Coutts also contravened a probation order by failing to report on March 11.
MORE COURT NEWS
Noose photo among onslaught of abuse sent to mum
How school dropout dad swindled $120K from major banks
Magistrate’s harsh words for young woman wanting prison release
The court heard Coutts had a lengthy history of serious offending including robbery, property and drug offences and that he had been given a range of sentencing options in the past.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall remarked “he has had a pretty charmed run I would have thought”.
Magistrate Bucknall said he planned to impose a $2000 fine and order Coutts to pay $2718.51 for legal and medical fees to RSPCA.
He called police to the court stating he planned to sentence Coutts to 12 months in relation to the enter premises and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
But Magistrate Bucknall changed his mind after hearing Coutts’ explanations for the offending.
Coutts told the court that he “didn’t have an excuse for his behaviour”.
He said he had thought the motorcycle belonged to someone else that he had previously had an altercation with but said that didn’t excuse his behaviour.
Coutts said he had a “bad run” last year with his fiance leaving him for his best mate.
He said the evade fare happened after he had caught a taxi back from a mental health facility at a Brisbane hospital.
Coutts also told Magistrate Bucknall he had just started a new job and that he would be willing to comply with parole in order to keep his job.
“If you do want to imprison me that is fine but I really appreciate it if you would consider immediate parole considering I have really been trying to turn myself around,” Coutts said.
Magistrate Bucknall sentenced Coutts to 12 months imprisonment, for both the unlawful use and enter premises charges.
“I was intending to order you to serve a period of three months but I am told you are in employment and there are some mental health issues that you are addressing, and you have expressed remorse,” Magistrate Bucknall said.
“To send you to prison today, as I was intending to, for three months which would most likely lead to the loss of employment is probably not in neither your interest or more importantly the communities, in those circumstances I fix a parole release date of today.
“You are extremely lucky sir.”