South Australia’s 10 dumbest, weirdest crimes heard in court in 2024
Recording how to smuggle meth videos, sharing a photo of a $140k luxury ride and a stay-at-home-mum’s wild night off are just some of SA’s dumbest crimes of the year.
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One stole a $140,000 Range Rover and shared a picture of it, another was done for selling drugs to support his freeloading 30-year-old son, while one woman stabbed her relative after she wouldn’t share her alcohol.
––Here are some of SA’s dumbest crimes for 2024 – and check out the list for 2023 here.
Brooke Lee Haynes
Brooke Lee Haynes, 26, was enjoying a child-free night when she got into a brawl at Falafel House on Hindley St.
Haynes pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and two counts of assault worker on April 30.
Peter Hill, for Haynes, said the pair had “responsibly caught an Uber into town” before the “night got out of hand clearly due to intoxication”.
“We say it’s not the case that this is a lady with a drinking problem or a drug problem, she’s simply a hardworking stay-at-home mother,” he said.
“The (police officer sustained) a broken arm and that’s not the subject of any charges, the two assault police (charges) came by way of two allegations of spitting.”
Haynes was sentenced in April to three months imprisonment, suspended upon her entering a good behaviour bond of 18 months.
Mark John Walters
An SA man was jailed for stabbing his high school friend in the stomach over a $50 drug debt.
Mark John Walters, 49, was sentenced in the District Court in March after being found guilty by a jury after pleading not guilty to aggravated causing serious harm with intent to cause serious harm.
At the time, prosecutor Robert Kane told the court the victim had been invited to fight because he owed the accused $50 for methamphetamine.
In sentencing, Judge Geraldine Davison said without medical attention it is likely the victim would not have survived.
“(The victim) suffered serious injuries including a laceration to his neck and abdomen,” she said.
“A portion of his bowel was protruding from his abdomen and he required immediate surgery.”
Judge Davison said the attack occurred after a series of abusive text messages between the pair.
After a few exchanges, Walters responded: “Come on you f---ing coward, come and say s--t to my face”.
Walters was sentenced to nine years and six months imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years and five months.
The sentence was backdated to July 17, 2023.
Rinald Raymond Lebois
A man with more than 150 convictions stole a $140,000 luxury car from an affluent Adelaide suburb before sending a photo of it to his girlfriend.
Rinald Raymond Lebois, 38, was sentenced in the District Court in February after he was arrested after stealing several items from homes in Unley Park.
Judge Simon Stratton said while sentencing Lebois this was his final warning after a “life of crime”.
“In the early hours, you (entered) a residential home in Unley Park was broken into with the intention to commit theft while the two residents were asleep,” he said.
“(You) stole property including laptop computers, a watch, an iPhone, a drone bag, jewellery and personal papers, and then using keys that you also stole, you stole a $140,000 Range Rover from their garage.
“In fact, your attitude is tellingly revealed in text messages and photos,” he said.
“You were pleased with your night’s work and you were clearly intending to keep the Range Rover.”
Lebois was sentenced to seven years imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years, seven months and seven days.
The sentence was backdated to December 8, 2021.
Scott Kennedy
Scott Nathan Kennedy, 35, was jailed for his “appalling” conduct after he left the victim requiring four surgeries and with a permanent limp.
During sentencing in February, the District Court heard the victim’s wife was selling her silver Mitsubishi ASX in August 2022.
Kennedy attended the victim’s Munno Para address to test drive the car but the seller had changed her mind.
The court heard Kennedy armed himself with the handle of the car’s jack and demanded the victim sell him the car.
“You followed him up the driveway and swung the metal pole towards his legs,” Judge Anthony Allen said.
The court heard Kennedy then struck the victim again to his legs, with the third time causing the victim to fall to the ground.
The tibia and fibula of the victim’s right leg were broken into multiple fragments causing bone to protrude out of the skin and he required four surgeries to correct the damage.
Kennedy, of Redwood Park, pleaded guilty to serious causing harm with intent.
Judge Allen sentenced Kennedy to three years and eight months jail, with a non-parole period of one year and 10 months.
Betty Buzzacott
Betty Anne Buzzacott, 34, was jailed for more than two years after she became enraged and launched the vicious attack during a drunken night out.
During sentencing in August, the District Court heard Buzzacott was drinking with a group in Port Augusta on February 23 last year.
Buzzacott and the victim, who were both intoxicated, ended up on the foreshore near the Oasis Apartments.
The court heard Buzzacott became aggressive towards the victim because she refused to continue sharing her alcohol.
“You took hold of an empty bottle and smashed it against rocks,” Auxiliary Judge Gordon Barrett said.
“You went then for the victim, striking her with a bottle from behind.”
There was a large wound to the left side of the victim’s jaw near her ear, which was approximately 5-6cm deep.
The treating doctor estimated that she had lost about 100ml of blood.
Buzzacott, of Davenport, was found guilty by a jury after a trial of causing harm with intent to cause harm.
Mr Barrett sentenced Buzzacott to two years and two months jail, with a non-parole period of one year and two months.
The sentence was backdated to June 27.
Charlene Barton
Charlene Jean Barton, 51, was told she avoided jail by “an exceedingly narrow margin” after she left the man hospitalised for several days.
During sentencing in September, the District Court heard Barton and her partner were with the victim, who she had known for a number of years, at a mutual friend’s house on August 30, 2019.
A physical altercation took place between Barton’s partner and the victim and they left.
The partner was accused of any wrongdoing.
The court heard Barton and her partner then drove to the victim’s Elizabeth East house and when the victim came out to investigate, they began yelling expletives at each other.
Barton then drove at the victim while he stood in his driveway but he moved out the way.
“He says he then heard you change gears before he was struck by the car, causing him to fall backwards into his driveway gate, striking his head,” Judge Kris Handshin said.
The court heard the victim spent four days in hospital with multiple fractures.
Barton, of Surrey Downs, pleaded guilty to causing harm with intent.
He sentenced Barton to two years and 10 months jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
However, due to Barton’s limited criminal history and good prospects for rehabilitation she was ordered to serve the sentence on home detention.
Dominik Wojniak
Dominik Stanislaw Wojniak, 35, was jailed for more than two years after he told what the jury found to be an unconvincing tale during his trial.
During sentencing in January, the District Court heard police located Wojniak in his garage on March 4, 2020.
They found equipment and ingredients to make cannabis oil, including a glass tube containing cannabis and butane canisters.
Police also located all of the equipment necessary for the manufacture of methamphetamine but none of the ingredients.
Wojniak gave evidence that he knew nothing about the equipment.
Wojniak, of Renown Park, was found guilty by a jury of manufacturing a controlled drug and possessing prescribed equipment.
The court heard Wojniak had previously suffered from two chemical burns – one to his tongue and one to his upper arm – on separate occasions in April 2021 and January 2023.
Wojniak’s counsel said his arm burn was caused after the acid, which was in a container in his friend’s shed, spilt on him.
The court heard Wojniak’s tongue burn was caused after he took a drink of the acid in a drink container, which his counsel said they understood Auxiliary Judge Barrett may find suspicious.
Wojniak was sentenced to two years and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of one year and eight months.
The sentence was backdated to November 25.
Robin and Scott Custance
A father turned to selling cannabis to support his freeloading son after he moved back home with his four children, a court heard.
Robin John Custance, 63, and his son Scott James Custance – who assisted with the business for a brief period – both avoided jail after they turned their lives around.
During sentencing in September, the District Court heard police attended a Dernancourt address in May 2023 and searched the property.
They found just under 1.5kg of cannabis stored in jars and plastic containers in a games room.
A mobile phone belonging to Robin revealed he had been trafficking cannabis since October 2021, including posting ads of the product.
The court heard Scott’s offending related to him looking after his father’s business over about a three-day period in May 2023.
Robin pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking, while Scott, 34, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
The court heard Scott, who was addicted to drugs and gambling, moved back into the family home in 2019.
The court heard Robin lost his job as an Uber driver when the Covid pandemic hit and by that time Scott, his new partner and four children were living at his home and not paying their way.
“It was against that background that you … started using cannabis to deal with your own stressors, and then from there graduated to selling it,” Judge Barklay said.
Robin was sentenced to two years and three months jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
Due to his rehabilitation efforts and abstinence from drugs, he was ordered to serve the sentence on home detention.
Scott was sentenced to nine months jail, which was suspended on a two-year good behaviour bond.
Henry Nwaulu
A Mount Gambier man who used contacts in South Africa and South East Asia to import millions of dollars worth of methamphetamine and heroin into Australia will spend nearly a decade behind bars.
Nigerian national Henry Okechuku Nwaulu was sentenced in June after importing large quantities of illegal drugs into the country hidden inside baby clothes and books, and electronics.
Nwaulu was arrested in February 2022 after his home and mobile phones were searched by ABF officers and SA Police.
Following an investigation by the Australian Border Force, Nwaulu was charged with three counts of importing a marketable quantity of a controlled drug before a District Court found him guilty of the crimes last October.
The ABF found Nwaulu had been sent two parcels from South Africa which contained more than 500g of methamphetamine.
A third parcel, sent from Laos, was further found to contain about 1kg of heroin concealed in an amplifier system.
Nwaulu also took 25 lengthy videos of himself handling mounds of methamphetamine in his Mount Gambier home, as well as demonstrations of how he was smuggling the drugs into the country.
Judge Durrant sentenced Nwaulu to nine years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years, 10 months and six days.
Nwaulu will be eligible for release in September 2029.
Phillip Iskra and Amber Fisher
A man is behind bars after he bashed and robbed a client who owed his sex worker friend money.
Phillip John Iskra, 59, knew of Amber Fisher’s tragic backstory when he took vigilante action to retrieve the $500 promised to her for services.
During sentencing in August, the District Court heard the victim attended a Fulham property in July 2022 to meet Fisher, and was met by Iskra holding a large knife.
Iskra asked the victim for money before punching him multiple times when he said he didn’t have it.
He also stole the victim’s iPhone and car keys.
“The victim attempted to retrieve his phone and in response you held a knife to him and told him to sit down or he would be killed,” Judge Anthony Allen said.
The court heard Iskra drove the victim to an ATM but he was unable to withdraw money as he entered his pin incorrectly too many times.
Iskra, of Ridleyton, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and robbery.
Fisher, who pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and robbery, was jailed for one year and six months, with a non-parole period of seven months.
The sentence was backdated to September 8.
Judge Allen sentenced Iskra to two years and ten months, with a non-parole period of one years and five months.
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