Northland shopping centre: Joshua Heeman of Reservoir steals bike
Doing favours for friends is normally the right thing to do. But a young Reservoir man has found out the hard way that it often depends on who your friends are.
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A young Reservoir man has discovered it’s not always great to help a mate, especially when it comes to breaking the law.
Joshua Heeman has been told he’s running out of chances, having been taken into custody twice since he was released from jail on March 24 on a community corrections order after serving a year-long sentence.
The 22-year-old most recently fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday, May 25, having helped a friend steal a bike at Northland while on bail and the corrections order.
The court heard he had been in the cells for three days since he took himself to police after he used force to break a lock on a bike left outside the shopping centre about 2pm on Friday, May 22.
Heeman’s lawyer Chris McLennan said his client could get the bike back from his friend.
He was only released from the same court on May 13 after he helped a friend steal a car, damaged a room at Heidelberg police station and damaged a DHHS house.
Heeman pleaded guilty to stealing the Mazda from a Watsonia driveway early on May 7, saying he helped an unnamed friend with the handbrake.
The court heard when he was arrested and taken to Heidelberg police station early on May 13 he punched a door, causing extensive damage, and scratched plaster from a wall.
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Heeman also admitted to kicking in the front door of a DHHS house in Watsonia on May 1.
Mr McLennan told the court his indigenous client had struggled with methamphetamine use in the past and had a difficult childhood.
Magistrate Helen Murphy had released him on a deferred sentence on May 13, saying it would be easy to put him back in jail, but that she wanted to give him a chance to “get some runs on the board” with his corrections order before sentencing him.
“Sometimes it’s hard when friends ask you for a favour,” she told Heeman on May 13.
“But it’s time to make some better choices.”
When he reappeared before her on May 25 she sentenced him to a week’s jail for stealing the bike.
Ms Murphy said Heeman wasn’t giving the court many options with what to do with him anymore.