Loved-up couple robs eight Dan Murphy’s stores, steals $7000 whiskey
A loved-up couple onsold pricey alcohol they stole from stores — including eight Dan Murphy’s — on the cheap. But what’s happened to a $7000 bottle of Japanese whiskey they nicked from a popular Doncaster East bottle shop?
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A pair of “Bonnie and Clyde” booze bandits nabbed high-end liquor including a $7000 bottle of Japanese whiskey during a month-long crime spree.
Brad Hynds and his girlfriend Ebony Bouchaud targeted eight Dan Murphy’s stores, and a Doncaster East bottle shop, between October and November 2018.
Hynds, a plasterer, and Bouchaud would enter the stores, place the bottles in bags, jump the entry gates and flee.
The couple made off with 14 bottles during one heist.
Hynds would then “palm off” the liquor to third-party sellers for below cost price.
Hynds and Bouchaud scored big after they robbed Nick’s Wine Merchants at East Doncaster on November 21, 2018.
Hynds planned the robbery after he “sussed” out the Jackson Court institution on the internet.
The pair came prepared with a makeshift stepladder comprised of two milk crates zip-tied together.
Hynds also tooled up for the job with a knife.
He threatened the attendant while Bouchaud used the milk crates to nab a $7000 bottle of 2009 Suntory Yamazaki Cask Single Malt Whiskey.
Witnesses spotted Hynds and Bouchaud flee in a Holden sedan.
The lovebirds were arrested outside their South Melbourne apartment less than three hours later.
Hynds told police he sold the bottle – which has yet to be recovered – to a South Melbourne market merchant known only as “John”.
In the County Court on February 4, Hynds, 28, was sentenced to time served – 77 days – after pleading guilty to armed robbery and several theft charges.
Judge Patricia Riddell said Hynds and Bouchaud committed “planned and premeditated” offending.
“You (Hynds) admitted, as I’ve said, ‘sussing out’ those premises,” she said.
“You obviously both knew exactly what and where that bottle was located (at the East Doncaster heist),” Judge Riddell said.
Judge Riddell said Hynds had shown “true remorse” and made good rehabilitation progress while under strict bail conditions.
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Hynds, who has priors for criminal damage and driving offences, was placed on a 22-month community corrections order with drug rehab and community service requirements.
Bouchaud, a mother of two, posted on her Facebook page she would be having “drinks” to celebrate Hynds’ release.
She was sentenced at the Magistrates’ Court last September to a 12-month community corrections order with 100 hours of community work, and ordered to repay $12,325.32.