Shane Euen allegedly broke into Simec Coal site in Bargo to steal property worth $91,000, court hears

A man has been charged with trespassing numerous times on the land of the controversial Simec Coal project in Bargo to steal items worth more than $91,000.

A man has been charged with trespassing numerous times on the land of the controversial Simec Coal project in Bargo to steal items worth more than $91,000.

Shane Euen, 46, appeared in Moss Vale court on Monday via video link after being arrested for seven counts of entering enclosed lands without consent of the owner, six charges of larceny, and possessing a prohibited drug.

Police allege the Campbelltown resident trespassed on the Simec Coal site in Bargo, which is controversial for its underground mining practice, on seven separate occasions between November last year and February.

Shane Euen is charged with trespassing on the Simec Coal mine site in Bargo to steal $90,000 worth of technical supplies. Picture: Facebook

According to police, Mr Euen illegally entered the Simec Coal site in Bargo on November 9 at around 2.30am and stole a copper electrical cable worth $5000 and then returned to the site at 7am on Christmas Day and didn’t take anything.

Police claim Mr Euen went back for more on January 9 at around 5am, when they allege he took electrical solenoid drivers worth an estimated $60,000. Only 20 days later, police allege he came back to take $16,000 worth of electrical cable and high tensile cabling from the mining site on Remembrance Driveway.

At around 1.30am on February 8, police claim Mr Euen trespassed on the site and stole a lighting cable worth $10,000 and then returned two days later to take a wheelbarrow and trolley priced at $300.

At 1.30am on the morning he was arrested, Mr Euen allegedly broke into the Simec Coal site and stole more electrical cabling worth $500. According to police, officers found methamphetamine on the Campbelltown man when they arrested him four and a half hours later at Pheasants Nest.

Police allege the total value of stolen items was $91,800.

The court heard Mr Euen, who works as a removalist, is a twin. His lawyer Brian Hanrahan said his client instructed him that some of the charges on his file were not related to his own behaviour, but that of his schizophrenic twin.

The site of the Tahmoor South Coal Mine, which Shane Euen allegedly trespassed onto to steal thousands of dollars of equipment.

However, the police prosecutor said the main charges before the court had been verified by Mr Euen’s fingerprints, “so in my submissions they are definitely his”.

The court heard Mr Euen is a carer for his twin and has three children for whom he provides. Mr Hanrahan told the court his client would report to police daily and abide by a strict curfew if released on bail.

Mr Euen has recently been jailed for “serious matters of dishonesty”, the court heard. The police prosecutor said the previous conviction and the defendant’s ongoing drug problem were a cause for concern.

“He still has an ongoing drug problem,” he said.

“The bail concern would be that he was going to continue to reoffend while on bail.”

Magistrate Mark Douglass agreed drug abuse played a part in the offences.

“In my view he is stealing to fuel that drug use,” he said.

The magistrate determined the risk of reoffending “could not be diluted” and refused Mr Euen’s application for bail.

The Campbelltown resident was upset to hear the decision, telling the court: “I’m not built for jail.”

He will return to Picton Court on February 23.