Moruya thief Lester Lonsdale launches last minute bid to avoid jail

A father-of-two - who has previously been hit with a decade long ban from Woolworths - has made a desperate bid to get out of jail after racking up a series of charges across eight years.

Lester Lonsdale pleaded guilty at the Batemans Bay Local Court to 10 counts of larceny. Picture: Facebook

A serial thief whose widespread stealing spree resulted in a decade-long ban from all Woolworths stores has been slammed by a District Court judge for ignoring his children in favour of a crippling drug addiction amid a new court appeal.

Lester Lonsdale, 26, was sentenced to 18 months in jail earlier this year after pleading guilty to a string of driving, drugs, and larceny charges, involving supermarket stores across the state’s southeast, including Narooma, Moruya, and Cranebrook.

The Moruya man was described by police as a “prolific and habitual offender”, having been charged 26 times in the past eight years for 60 sequences, including more than 20 counts of shoplifting. In that time, he accrued more than five years in jail sentences.

Appearing at Bega District Court on Wednesday via videolink from Goulburn Correctional Centre, Lonsdale told Judge Andrew Heasler he had suffered from a long-term addiction to ice and heroin, but since being arrested in mid-2022 was committed to staying clean for his children.

“I have two beautiful kids to look after and I don’t do crimes anymore,” he said. “I’m headstrong: mentally strong.

Lester Lonsdale pleaded guilty at the Batemans Bay Local Court to 10 counts of larceny. Picture: Facebook

“I’ve thought a lot over the past few months that it’s either my family or drugs.

“I pick my family before I pick my abuse.”

In a letter to the court, Lonsdale said some of the offending was to purchase things for his family.

But, Lonsdale admitted to not having any potential work organised for after his release, despite being less than a month away from freedom.

Taking into account time served, Lonsdale was sentenced to serve only six months behind bars.

Judge Heasler told Lonsdale his predicament was one he saw too often in court.

“I have done this job for a long time,” he said.

“It is no unusual, in my experience, for people who have drug problems to promise themselves: ‘This time will be different.’

Bega District Court

“That they are going to deal with their problems because they have responsibilities in the community.

“Sadly, we only ever see the failures. The successes never come back to court.”

While the more than ten separate instances of theft were individually minor, Judge Heasler said they were nonetheless serious.

“You took other people’s property blatantly,” he said.

“I can take drug use into understanding why a crime is committed, but it does not excuse it.

Agreed police facts state Lonsdale’s crime spree began in November 2020 when he robbed the BWS store in Jordan Springs, stealing a $48 Jim Beam Gift Packs. He robbed the store another three times, taking items including an $111 bottle of Hennessey VSOP.

Over the next two years, Lonsdale robbed multiple Woolworths supermarkets.

In four separate instances, he made off with trolleys full of goods totalling $400, $900, $500, and $250, respectively.

Lawyer Adam Sumbak had asked Judge Heasler to increase Lonsdale’s sentence, but to be served in the community.

Judge Heasler ruled against that, instead urging Lonsdale to use the time to prepare for his release.

“You need that time to settle with your morphine program, and to give you as much time as possible to think and prepare for what you‘re going to do when you get out,” he said.

Lonsdale will be released on January 10, 2023.