Chemist Warehouse Box Hill: Peter Cook uses wheelchair-bound partner to steal medication

A Bundoora man not only used his disabled girlfriend to steal drugs, but told police meth in his system was likely his “medication” when they pulled him over in Brunswick.

Peter Cook used his disabled partner to steal drugs from Chemist Warehouse, the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court heard. Picture: Nicki Connolly

A Bundoora man who narrowly avoided jail time for a string of driving offences across Melbourne’s north also employed an uncommon trick to steal medication from Chemist Warehouse, a court has heard.

Peter Cook, 52, told the police who pulled him over on Sydney Rd, Brunswick in July 2020 that the meth in his system was “my medication” – while court documents reveal that he used his wheelchair-bound partner to steal drugs from Chemist Warehouse.

Cook faced Broadmeadows’ Magistrates Court last Friday, where Magistrate Vicky Prapas told him to “pack his toothbrush” if he was found on the roads again for similar driving offences.

Police summaries said officers detected his unregistered car through Automatic Numberplate Recognition Technology (ANPR) shortly after 2.30pm on July 7.

Cook told police that “I’ve got a permit, we’re going to visit my aunt,” when he was asked why he was driving an unregistered car without a valid driving licence – which was disqualified in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in 2019.

Police then conducted an oral fluid test on Cook, which returned a positive meth reading.

Court documents also reveal that in November 2020 Cook was seen on CCTV wheeling his disabled carer and partner into a Chemist Warehouse on Whitehorse Rd in Box Hill shortly at 11am.

The police summary said that Cook’s partner grabbed a bottle of perfume, which ended up in the hands of Cook and then into a bag in the wheelchair.

Police said Cook then wheeled his partner, who cannot be named, to the medication aisle, where he placed the analgesic Mersynofen in the same bag in his partner’s wheelchair.

Cook also stole sunglasses, with the total price of his loot coming to $87.

In his subsequent interview Cook told police that he hadn’t intended on stealing the items, however it was “just convenient” to place them in the bag in the wheelchair.

Ennes Marcellus, for Cook, said his client was “extremely remorseful” and had pleaded guilty “at the earliest opportunity.”

Mr Marcellus said that Cook’s crimes were “low level examples” of their offending.

Ms Prapas asked Cook to stand in court before she told him that she strongly considered imposing a prison sentence, but instead would “lay it all” at his feet with an $8000 fine.

“You’re going to need to figure out how to pay that,” Ms Prapas told Cook, who relies on a government pension.