Joshua Meddings pleads guilty in Moorabbin Court over the theft of cat deworming tablets and a lunch box
A Mentone man’s bizarre offending has been laid out in court after he was busted doing the old ‘five-finger discount’ at Big W.
South East
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A man caught stealing cat deworming tablets and a lunch box has had his sentencing options spelt out to him by a magistrate.
Mentone man Joshua Meddings pleaded guilty in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on June 19 after was caught stealing from Big W at Southland shopping centre in March.
Meddings caught the attention of a loss prevention officer when he was walking through the retail store eating a chocolate egg.
Walking with his partner, Meddings was seen picking up multiple packets of cat deworming tablets and hiding them in his partner’s handbag.
The officer also saw him place a lunch box into his partner’s bag before continuing to walk through the store.
The officer alerted frontend staff to undertake a bag check when he exited the store, which they did, only to find Meddings had covered the stolen items in the bag with other personal items.
The officer approached the pair, where Meddings admitted to stealing the items immediately.
The court heard his partner told the officer she had “told him not to take it”.
The pair waited with Big W staff for police to arrive, where he made full admissions to the thefts
When asked if he had any intentions of paying for it, Meddings said he did not.
On Monday, Magistrate David Starvaggi said he would take Meddings’ age and lack of priors into account when sentencing him, suggesting a good behaviour bond.
Meddings, at first apprehensive, asked the magistrate if that was his “best option.”
“I’m not really sure how any of this works,” he said.
“Is this really the best option for me?”
Mr Starvaggi listed the options available for sentencing Meddings, saying he’d like to think Meddings “can stay out of trouble”.
“Well I can put you in jail, but that is probably not appealing is it?” he said.
“I can give you community work, I can fine you, or I can put you on an adjourned undertaking which is what I’m proposing to do.”
Meddings promised he would stay out of trouble for the 12 month period of the adjourned undertaking, and he was free to go.
gemma.scerri@news.com.au
