Aaron John Ginn: Bendigo father smuggled vodka in pants after relapse
A Bendigo father turned back to Vodka after an attempt at going cold turkey from the drink led to a stint in hospital.
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A Bendigo father battling to break his cycle of alcohol abuse relapsed into old habits after an attempt to sober up left him in an emergency room.
Aaron John Ginn appeared in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, and pleaded guilty to breaching his community corrections order and shoplifting in 2020.
The court heard Ginn was released from custody in January 2020 and was determined to get sober.
His lawyer Alexandra McLure said the Bendigo father with a long-running problem with alcohol tried to get clean by “going cold turkey”.
Ms McLure said Ginn suffered from severe withdrawals, with the Bendigo father taken to hospital with seizures and reportedly “turning blue”.
She said the experience “scared the daylights out of him” and soon led to a relapse.
The court heard that Ginn was busted stuffing a $74 bottle of Smirnoff vodka down his pants at the Kangaroo Flat BWS on October 8, 2020.
On Boxing Day Ginn was caught again trying to nick a bottle of Smirnoff, this time raspberry flavoured.
The Bendigo man tried to pay for a pack of UDLs while smuggling the spirits in his jacket at the Bendigo Dan Murphy’s.
When questioned by staff about the vodka Ginn left without paying.
He later told police he did not remember the theft as he was drunk at the time.
Ms McLure said the cause of the Bendigo father’s offending was inherently linked to his problems with alcohol and said Ginn was about to start an intensive treatment program.
She said he had committed to the program, not only for his own health but for the sake of his one-year-old daughter who he had not seen in months.
Ginn told the Magistrate Patrick Southey he would clean up his act so he could once again be in contact with his child.
“He knows he has everything to lose, “ Ms McLure said.
Ginn pleaded guilty to two shoplifting offences and breaching his community corrections order.
Mr Southey gave Ginn a deferred sentence, with a judgement to be handed down after he completed the rehabilitation program.
He will reappear in court on July 22.
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