Dumbest acts and misdemeanours committed across NSW
There’s been some weird, wacky and just downright unbelievable misdemeanours committed across Sydney in recent times. Here’s the dumbest dozen cases that left police and the wider community dumbfounded.
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From the man who threatened to take a “sh**” in ScoMo’s backyard to the guy who broke every rule in the police handbook and a botched kidnapping … and of course the people who decided to break the law right in front of police officers. Plus don’t forget the toilet paper thief.
Here are a dozen of the dumbest misdeeds that have taken place across Sydney that have had the police, as well as the wider community, scratching their heads in disbelief.
Botched kidnapping/assault results in finger amputation
CONVICTED
The morning two men kidnapped and assaulted a man in Charmhaven on the Central Coast, which resulted in a finger amputation, clearly wasn’t thought through.
Mitchell Smolinski and Nathan Steel were convicted and jailed last week with the court hearing they entered the victim’s living quarters around 3am on July 26 2019 and woke the man who grabbed a homemade weapon.
Steele picked up a metal pole and hit the victim’s hand, injuring his right little finger so badly it was just hanging on by “skin only”. They continued taunting the victim and tied him up, when all of a sudden they let the victim have a shower and decided to drive him to hospital.
However the pair found their car bogged and called the victim a taxi. During this time, the victim escaped to a nearby rural fire service station.
When police arrived at the property, Smolinski and Steele were still trying to free the car.
The men, who will each spend the next three years in jail, blamed the drug ice for their actions.
Dirt bike rider charged over burnout in front of police
CONVICTED
A competitive dirt bike rider made one of the rookiest errors going around after he was caught doing a burnout directly in front of a fully marked police car.
Motocross rider Ryan Findanis pleaded guilty to reckless driving and was convicted, fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months at Sutherland Local Court last month.
Court documents stated Findanis, of Helensburg, was driving his Subaru BRZ erratically in the rain on January 18 through Eton St.
“Police were travelling directly behind the accused in a fully marked police car,” police facts stated.
“Police observed the accused’s vehicle to harshly accelerate – the accused’s vehicle immediately lost traction and aggressively fishtailed for approximately 20m.”
When he was eventually pulled over, Findanis was shocked and asked “you’re going to arrest me for a burnout?”.
Man jumps on police car outside station
CONVICTED
A magistrate has described the actions of a drunk man, who jumped on a police car outside Manly Police Station, as “galactically stupid”.
In January 2019 Benjamin Bevins, of Manly Vale, was sentenced after he was filmed on CCTV cameras in December 2018 jumping on the bonnet of the police car and kicking in the front windscreen causing more than $1700 worth of damage.
In dealing with Bevins’s matter, Manly Local Court magistrate Christopher Longley referenced a famous quote from the hit Tom Cruise movie A Few Good Men.
“Should we or should we not follow the advice of the galactically stupid?”
“Why you would walk across six lanes of traffic to jump on the bonnet of a police car, parked outside a police station, I do not know,” Magistrate Longley said.
He convicted Bevins on a charge of intentionally or recklessly damage property and sentenced him to a Conditional Release Order and that he be supervised by Community Corrections for 12 months.
Man who threatened to take a “sh*t” in PM’s pool
CONVICTED
A 33-year-old man is set to appeal a jail sentence after breaking into the backyard of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Sydney home.
Dean Fletcher pleaded guilty to trespassing and inciting a criminal act after he and a woman – carrying cans of cider – entered Prime Minister Morrison’s private backyard in the Sutherland Shire on January 3.
The political prank saw Fletcher organise a joke Facebook event encouraging punters to come and watch the cricket by the pool in protest against Prime Minister Morrison’s response to the bushfire disaster last summer.
Fletcher and the woman live-streamed themselves drinking cider in the backyard before concerned neighbours contacted police.
“The first video was of the accused on the train saying he was on his way to the Prime Minister’s house for a swim and some drinks, and encouraging people to attend,” the police facts stated.
In a video he posted to YouTube afterwards Fletcher said he was waiting to “sh** in the Prime Minister’s pool”.
Fletcher was sentenced to four months in jail in July, however was granted bail to appeal his sentence in the NSW District Court.
Man who broke every rule in the handbook
CONVICTED
Glenn Ashleigh Knowler served a six month jail sentence for trying to smuggle more than $100,000 from Sydney to Perth in February 2019.
Along the way, the 27-year-old Rebels bikie associate managed to make textbook mistakes to ensure the police were waiting for him at Sydney Airport.
First he acted as suspicious at Perth Airport with police facts stating he appeared “very agitated and concerned” when told his bag would be searched.
Having retrieved his bag of cash without being arrested, Knowler sent text messages to a woman during the flight which were intercepted by police. One read, “I’m safe in the ground!!!! … Now the fun part.”
Just when he thought he was home free, police met Knowler at the front door of Sydney Airport.
“I’m gone, they got me,” he texted to his mate.
He was convicted of dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
Toilet paper thief convicted at Parramatta Local Court
CONVICTED
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it would be remiss of us not to include a toilet paper thief.
However it was also the other unusual items the man stole that bemused the magistrate,
Graham John Mellers, 54, was convicted in Parramatta Local Court last month after pleading guilty to stealing the dunny paper, flyscreen mesh, a DVD, electronic microphone cord from a property in North Parramatta on November 9 2019.
Magistrate Tim Keady questioned why Mellers, of Oatlands, didn’t just wait for a council road side clean up to go in search of the items he took.
“If it was sitting on the footpath waiting for council clean up it would be different but it’s not,’’ he said.
Mellers was convicted and fined $400.
Luxury Ingleburn watch heist captured on CCTV in broad daylight
GUILTY PLEAS
Two men and a woman didn’t make the smartest decision when they carried out a luxury watch heist in broad daylight, not to mention in full view of CCTV cameras.
Nathan Kinnane, Jamie Patrick Kinnane and Stefane Ann Devine owned up to their roles in the Australia Day 2020 heist which included $200,000 worth of luxury watches, booze and electronics.
A stash of 284 watches – worth $500 each – was discovered in the garage of Nathan Kinnane, of Rossmore, who pleaded guilty to four offences including larceny and dealing with criminal proceeds worth more than $100,000.
He was placed on an Intensive Corrections Order for two years and ordered to complete 300 hours of community service.
The court heard the goods were stolen from Next Logistics warehouse, in Ingleburn, near where Kinnane and his brother Jamie, who has also pleaded guilty to his role, worked as truck drivers.
The heist took place on Australia Day when the Kinnane brothers and Devine, of Prestons, spent the afternoon looting the warehouse and were captured on CCTV.
Devine has pleaded guilty to larceny and participating in a criminal group.
Escaped prisoner stole clothes and caught an Uber before arrest
CONVICTED
It was a bizarre jail escape which only lasted for an hour before prisoner James Tozer was caught in February 2020.
Tozer sparked a massive police operation when he made the “spontaneous” decision to flee Corrective Service officers while he was being treated at John Hunter Hospital.
A court heard during his brief stint of freedom, he ran through properties in New Lambton Heights and stole clothing. He told a resident he had been lost in the bush and used his toilet and phone. The resident called him an Uber which dropped him off at Kotara Westfield.
His plan foiled when the Uber driver saw the news of the escape on Facebook and contacted police.
Tozer was eventually caught in Target and pleaded guilty to escape lawful custody, enter prescribed premises of person without lawful excuse, and larceny. His defence stated he suffered a serious assault in custody and wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
“It’s not a situation where he has planned the escape. It was an opportunistic, unplanned incident,” his legal aid solicitor stated.
Tozer was sentenced to an extra six months in jail for his escape.
Man crashed a van filled with drugs into parked police cars
GUILTY PLEA
Simon Tu, from Berala, will be sentenced this month after crashing a van filled with more than $200 million worth of ice into parked police cars.
Tu has pleaded guilty to charges of negligent driving and supplying prohibited drugs.
Last July, Tu had been driving a white Toyota Hi-ace van before he smashed it into two parked police cars at Eastwood Police Station on Ethel St.
CCTV footage of the van crashing into the parked police cars in Sydney’s north went viral on social media.
Police alleged Tu drove off after the incident before he was pulled over a short time later at Church St in Ryde where he claimed to be a food delivery driver.
He will be sentenced in the Downing Centre on September 10.
Man jailed for crashing stolen milk/doughnut truck into house
CONVICTED
It was a recipe for disaster – an unattended doughnut and milk delivery truck and a drunk driver five times over the limit.
Just before 11pm on July 27, 2017, Matthew James Holland saw a 10-tonne Pantech delivery truck with the engine still running parked at the 7-Eleven service station at Wyong.
He decided to drive himself home and ended up ploughing the truck into a Watanobbi house on the Central Coast causing $250,000 in damages.
The court heard Holland had been out of jail for little over a month after serving four years for robbery, reckless wounding and car theft when he got on the booze.
“I had quite a lot, I had been drinking all day at the club and finished off a cask of wine by myself, I drank way too much,” he told Gosford District Court during his sentencing hearing.
Holland, who underwent several surgeries after the accident, pleaded guilty to car theft, drink-driving, driving without a licence and destroying property and was handed a two year jail sentence with a non-parole period of one year.
“I need all the help I need to stop drinking and doing stupid stuff,” he told the court.
Man who kicked in glass doors of police station
CONVICTED
Back in 2016, a fresh contender emerged for the world’s dumbest vandal.
Luke Matthew Hainsworth was convicted and fined after kicking in the doors of Gosford Police Station.
The court heard Hainsworth, from Adamstown, was drunk and arrested earlier in the night for climbing onto the roof of a vehicle.
He was taken to Gosford Police Station where he was issued a future court attendance notice. However, instead of going home, he returned just over two hours later.
Court facts stated Hainsworth was armed with a large sandstone rock and proceeded to kick the automatic sliding glass door of the police station causing it to smash.
Video footage of the incident emerged, showing two females at the front counter screaming and running away.
Hainsworth, who showed up to court barefoot, pleaded guilty to one count of recklessly destroying property and was fined $500 and put on a 12-month good behaviour bond.
Man who cannot feel his feet still led police on 180km/h pursuit
CONVICTED
A red P-plater was convicted after leading police on a 180km/h chase through Sydney Airport Tunnel in October 2018.
Ahmed Rabieh Krayem, who suffers from a condition colloquially known as “dropfoot” after a workplace injury, told a court he panicked and failed to stop on the night of the chase in Sydney’s south.
Police attempted to stop Krayem at 11.44pm after they saw him driving at 140km/h in a 70km/h zone in Botany.
The court heard he then accelerated “harshly and deliberately” away from officers, hitting speeds of 180km/h in a 70km/h zone and 110km/h in a 50km/h before being arrested in Kyeemagh.
“If an impact did occur there would have been a high likelihood that members of the public would be seriously injured or killed by the accused’s actions,” the agreed facts read.
Magistrate Glenn Bartley convicted Krayem of a police pursuit and exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h at Sutherland Local Court and sentenced him to a 20 month intensive corrections order, a four year driving disqualification and 200 hours of community service.