Man narrowly avoids jail after Bunnings Warehouse crime spree
A western Sydney man used a card he found to rack up purchases of almost $12,000 from five different Bunnings Warehouses.
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A man who bought almost $12,000 worth of tools and equipment from five different Bunnings Warehouses using a card he did not own over a two-day crime spree has avoided jail.
Imraan Abrahams, 33, of Blair Athol, was sentenced to a 13-month intensive corrections order by Magistrate Janine Lacy at Penrith Local Court on Tuesday afternoon.
He was charged with 20 counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, two counts of receiving or disposing stolen property, two counts of giving false information to a licensee, and one count of publishing false material to obtain an advantage.
Abrahams, who works as a crane operator, appeared stunned when Magistrate Lacy read his sentence, and grabbed the hand of a family member for support.
He was also fined $1800 and ordered to pay $11,854.99 in compensation to Excel Plant Hire, the company he was working for at the time of the crime.
Abrahams made eight separate transaction with a Bunnings card that didn’t belong to him over December 18 and 19, 2018.
Abrahams’ lawyer, George Hadchiti, argued the crimes were of an “opportunistic nature” after his client found a card belonging to a colleague.
According to police, Abraham worked a company which provided staff with a Bunnings card to buy tools and equipment.
The company had a combined limit of $20,000.
Police said Abrahams first went to Bunnings Warehouse Campbelltown at about 6.40pm on December 18 and purchased $704 worth of goods.
The next day he visited five different Bunnings Warehouses and purchased about $10,000 worth of goods over a five-hour period, according to court documents.
This included $403 from Hoxton Park, $1827 from Casula, $2669 from Campbelltown, $2489 from Gregory Hills, and $2962 from Narellan.
Police said Abrahams created a fraudulent email under the colleague’s name on December 24 to request an extra $10,000 added to his account, and used a mobile phone number that was just one digit different to his own.
He then pawned a set of Makita tools and a Kingstone socket set at Campbelltown Cash Convenience on February 4, and a Karcher pressure washer at Sydney Cash Rooty Hill on February 8.
Police obtained CCTV footage from Bunnings Warehouse, and executed a search warrant at Abrahams’s home in Blair Athol on June 13.
They seized a Toro lawnmower, Makita vacuum cleaner, a box of Makita tools, and a receipt from one of the fraudulent purchases.