Ingham court: Robbie Joe Murry Hastie pleads guilty to stealing, receiving
A man who received alcohol stolen by juveniles during a pub burglary has been blasted by a magistrate for helping encourage youth crime in North Queensland.
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A man who received alcohol stolen by juveniles during a pub burglary has been blasted by a magistrate for helping encourage youth crime in North Queensland.
Robbie Joe Murry Hastie, 28, pleaded guilty in the Ingham Magistrates Court to a charge of receiving tainted property in relation to the incident on September 12.
The father-of-two, who is unemployed, also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of stealing a pouch of tobacco from Lees Hotel in an earlier incident.
Queensland Police Service prosecutor Luay Allawy said Murry Hastie was captured on CCTV between 1.45am and 2.20am.
“The defendant was observed … in the street, in the presence of some young juveniles,” he said.
“Those juveniles had committed an enter premises and steal offences and stolen bottles of alcohol from businesses.”
Mr Allawy said the juveniles were “pushing a trolley containing large amounts of stolen alcohol”.
“The defendant was seen walking with them carrying two bottles of spirits.”
In response to a question by Magistrate Cathy McLennan, the prosecutor could not say how much the alcohol was worth, saying later that no restitution was sought.
Mr Allawy said Murry Hastie was again captured on CCTV, this time swiping a pouch of tobacco valued at around $100 from the smoking area in front of Lees on July 27.
Defence lawyer Fleur Lettice said the stealing incident was a misunderstanding, believing the pouch had been discarded.
She said her client, who had no previous convictions for dishonesty, was not directly involved in stealing the alcohol.
An unimpressed Magistrate McLennan gave the defendant a good old-fashioned dressing down for the receiving alcohol stolen by children who had burgled a pub.
“That’s fairly serious offence in my view, you are with children, you are 28 years of age, you are certainly old enough to know better,” he said.
“In my view, we’ve had enough of a problem with youth crime in the last few years without having a 28-year-old man getting involved.”
She said Murry Hastie’s actions were “an implied encouragement of the children in terms of their behaviour”.
“It is really damaging behaviour, not just to the community but also to the children to encourage the children in this manner.”
The defendant, who nodded in agreement with the magistrate during his scolding, was sentenced to 80 hours of community service “to give back to the community”.
Magistrate McLennan said she was not recording convictions because she believed the “foolish” and “impulsive” decision was out of character.
She warned Murry Hastie that any breach of the community-service order would result in a resentencing, likely convictions and a possible term of imprisonment.
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Originally published as Ingham court: Robbie Joe Murry Hastie pleads guilty to stealing, receiving
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