Robert Stanley Fitzpatrick freed on 40th birthday after five-month spree

A man who went on a five-month crime spree targeting small regional businesses in Victoria’s west has secured freedom on his 40th birthday.

A man who caused more than $200,000 worth of damage to a small regional business in Victoria’s west in a crime wave targeting ATMs will be freed from jail.

Robert Stanley Fitzpatrick, 40, was involved in five burglaries and attempted thefts with two other men between December 2018 and March 2019 across the Ballarat region.

Along with Grant James Nalder and Martin Locandro, the trio used a stolen front end-loader to try rip out an ATM out from a Clunes newsagency, which they then left running in the middle of the street as they fled once an alarm was sounded.

Destroying the newsagency’s heritage listed facade, the damage bill including loss of income and insurance claim totalled more than $200,000.

Sentencing him to one year and 11 months jail as time already served on Tuesday, County Court judge John Smallwood labelled the man’s conduct as “planned”.

“The prospects of rehabilitation should be good … if you don’t use drugs again and decide not to be a crook, the risk of you reoffending should be relatively low,” Judge Smallwood said.

“The damage this has caused to the local community, the stress, the anxiety, the sense of endangerment.”

Judge Smallwood said Fitzpatrick enjoyed the support of his elderly parents and accepted his time in jail had been difficult due to the COVID restrictions placed on prisons and his inability to take care of them.

His father listened to the sentencing through an audio link.

The court heard over three nights in mid-December 2018, Fitzpatrick with the two men also attempted to steal from ATMs at the Creswick Book Shop, Skipton Op Shop and Maldon Bendigo Bank using high powered tools including an angle grinder, jemmy bar and drill.

The ATM at the op shop was deemed “unrepairable” causing a $6,474 loss.

In January 2019, the group attempted to access the ATM at the Ballan Bendigo Bank branch by using an angle grinder to make cuts into the concrete wall, they were unable to damage it.

Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty to eight charges including three counts of burglary, attempted theft and attempted burglary.

Nalder was sentenced to seven years jail and Locandro three years and nine months when they faced Judge Smallwood in September last year.

Had Fitzpatrick not entered a guilty plea, he would have been sentenced to three and half years imprisonment.