Car-nage: Meth addict sentenced for $334k Darra caryard chaos

A drug addict has been sentenced for a bumbling attempt to steal luxury cars from a Brisbane dealership that left an eye-watering damage bill.

A man who blamed his marriage breakdown on a drug-fuelled crime rampage which caused half a million dollars damage to a luxury car dealership has been jailed.

Gordon Keith Doctor, 34, and two accomplices broke into Aria Motors at Darra on April 18 and made a spectacularly ham-fisted attempt to smash the plate glass windows by ramming them.

Instead of driving away with the high-end cars, they left a mess that police estimated to be worth $334,000, including damage to a BMW X-5, a BMW 320d, Mercedes c20, Renaults, Peugeots and a VW Touareg.

Extensive damage was caused, with an insurance claim still outstanding.

A smashed BMW at the Darra dealership.

Aria director, Hooman Fartash, told Quest Newspapers the damage bill was far higher.

“We’re fully insured, but it doesn’t cover damage to the plate glass windows which cost about $5000 to $10,000 each,’’ he said.

“We also had to get the keys replaced so we could move the cars, which also isn’t covered, and we were closed for five days while it was being cleaned up.

“It’s been back and forth with the insurers — it still hasn’t been settled.’’

Richlands Magistrates Court heard Doctor, who appeared via videolink from prison, had been using cannabis since the age of 11 and left school in Year 7.

Massive damage was caused to the Aria dealership.

Doctor’s lawyer, Jacilynn Young, said her client progressed to methamphetamine by 2010 when he discovered his wife had been unfaithful.

“He had been clean for a year but went back to using drugs every day,’’ she said.

Doctor pleaded guilty to a long string of drugs, traffic and property offences.

Magistrate Aaron Simpson said that before 2019, Doctor had committed mostly minor offences attributable to drug use.

More than $345,000 in damage was caused.

After that time he graduated to more serious crimes including break and enter.

“You and motor vehicles don’t mix very well. You have to stay away from cars until your licence is reinstated,’’ Mr Simpson warned him.

He sentenced Doctor to a head sentence of two and a half years, granting him immediate parole eligibility after taking into account the 136 days he had spent in pre-sentence custody.

A plate glass window was ruined.