Lee Bennett, Dean Simonds sentenced over ram raid at Harvey Norman
Two thieves made off with $14,000 worth of gear after ram-raiding the front of a Harvey Norman store, but came undone after they were tracked by GPS the entire time. SEE FOOTAGE OF THE BRAZEN ROBBERY.
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Two “unsophisticated” drug addicts who went on a ram-raid in a stolen government ute came unstuck because the vehicle had a GPS tracker in it, a court has heard.
Lee Bennett, 39 and Dean Simonds, 38, both fronted the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday where Chief Justice Helen Murrell handed Bennett a five year jail sentence, with a two-and-a-half year non-parole period.
Simonds’s barrister, Jason Moffett, successfully argued his client should be considered for a drug and alcohol treatment order.
The duo had earlier pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, theft and property damage, among a string of other charges stemming from the crime spree.
Chief Justice Murrell said the duo’s crime spree began when Bennett alone broke into an ACT government depot and made off with a ute, a large TV, a vacuum cleaner, and iPads, among other items.
“Unfortunately for the offenders, the Ford Ranger carried a GPS tracker,” Chief Justice Murrell said.
The duo then went on a smash-and-grab at an underground parking lot in Lyons, where their haul included nappies and baby moisturiser.
Bennett, in a text message, wrote of their ram-raid on Harvey Norman: “Bruv, ya missed out, I went and got Harvey’s last night … got like six lappys, gaming screen, … the new ipod touch, we got a decent chunk”.
Security camera footage shows the $33,000 in damage to the store, as the duo made off with $14,000 in electronic gear.
Police tracked the ute by the GPS, leading them to Bennett, and then found Simmonds hiding under a mattress at home.
Both men were high on ice at the time of the spree.
Chief Justice Murrell said of the Harvey Norman ram-raid: “the offenders simply seized whatever was to hand and escaped quickly”.
Bennett, who has spent most of his adult life in jail, was working as a plasterer’s labourer and was described as a “reliable hard worker”.
Bennett, in a letter to the court, “expressed shame and disappointment” over the crime spree and Chief Justice Murrell said the eight months he had kept out of trouble with the law before the ram-raid made her “moderately confident” he could lead a life free of crime.
Simonds, the court heard, has been a troublesome prisoner since being remanded at Canberra’s notorious Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Simonds described his involvement in the crime spree as a “split second decision”.