Joel Robert James Otago: Broadbeach man sentenced for Coles bashing, cyclone looting
A Gold Coast man who smashed his way into an Italian restaurant during the recent cyclone event also bashed a Coles loss prevention officer, a court has heard during his sentence.
Police & Courts
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A Gold Coast man who smashed his way into an Italian restaurant during the recent cyclone also bashed a Coles loss prevention officer, a court has been told during his sentencing.
Broadbeach man Joel Robert James Otago, 40, appeared via audiovisual link in Southport Magistrates Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to 12 charges.
His offences included multiple counts of stealing, and breaching bail, as well as common assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, enter premises with intent, and enter premises and commit indictable offence by break.
His most serious offending occurred on October 29 last year at a Coles supermarket in Southport.
Otago shoved a staffer when disturbed pilfering groceries, then grabbed a loss prevention officer by the throat on his way out and punched the officer several times to the face while racially abusing him, the court heard.
Police prosecutor Rodney Keyte described the second assault as “gratuitous violence”.
And on March 8 this year – as Tropical Cyclone Alfred preparations reached fever pitch – Otago threw a rock through the glass door at Gemelli Italian Broadbeach, where he pilfered two bottles of spirits (he also helped himself to some pistachio gelato).
He was arrested and remanded in custody after returning to collect his phone which, according to business owner Alec Carney, he had left at the scene of the crime.
Other offending Otago admitted to including thefts at Anaconda and Priceline, and shoulder barging a door, causing $2500 damage, at Paradise Towers Surfers Paradise to allow his female associate to steal a BMX bike.
His current offences breached a previous two-year probation order imposed by the Southport Magistrates Court on August 7 last year for a grab-bag of street-level offending.
Defence lawyer Sam Jackson told the court his client’s life fell apart four years ago when he exited a long-term, stable relationship and became addicted to methamphetamine, which led to homelessness.
His family remained supportive of him and were making moves to book him in for a stint at residential rehab service Victory House.
Otago was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole, taking into account the 20 days he spent on remand, and two years’ probation.
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