Revealed: South Australia’s seven dumbest crimes heard in court in 2023
An L-plater clocked at 253km/h before his gearbox blew up and a dealer found unconscious in a drive through, are among those involved in SA’s stupidest offences.
SA News
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South Australia has its fair share of criminals, some of whom have left police shaking their heads with their dumb antics.
From a learner driver clocked at 143km/h over the limit only to have his ute breakdown just down the road to a drug dealing young mum found unconscious in a Hungry Jacks drive through.
These crimes have very real victims; but the criminal moments displayed here have left South Australians chuckling.
The Messenger has compiled a list of some of the stupidest offending to go through SA courts so far this year.
Emily Jane Gray
Emily Jane Gray came to her drug-dealing boyfriend’s rescue and hid him in her garage while he was running from police.
Gray’s boyfriend Benjamin Thomas Cairns, 28, was running from police after he cut off his ankle monitor when she hid him.
A police prosecutor told the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court that during last year’s April 11 manhunt, Gray was “adamant” her partner was not at her home.
“She initially refused entry to the place shortly after police attended the address with a warrant – and located (Cairns) hiding in the garage,” a police prosecutor said.
Gray pleaded guilty to several charges including driving while disqualified, breaching bail, hindering police and entering a licensed premises she was banned from.
Throughout the court process, Gray, 22, stood by her man on social media and said “people change” and she’s “proud to call him my partner”.
“I stand by everything I have done and continue to do for my partner,” she said.
“Just because people do bad things doesn’t make them a bad person.
“A drug addiction is something I don’t wish upon anyone and I’m proud to call him my partner.”
Gray was sentenced to a six-month behaviour bond with a conviction recorded.
Cairns pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking and was sentenced to four years and three months, with a non-parole period of two years.
Skye Gemma Reynolds
Skye Gemma Reynolds’ fast food run came to a screeching halt when she was found unconscious in a Hungry Jack’s drive-through with drugs and cash.
The 23 year old mum was later jailed for selling meth to benefit her own addiction and cutting off her home detention bracelet.
While she was sentenced, the District Court heard Reynolds fell asleep in a Hungry Jack’s drive-through in Dry Creek on August 17.
“The Hungry Jack’s employee then went outside to hand you your food and observed your head was flopped to the side and that your eyes were closed,” Judge Paul Slattery said.
“You were unconscious and appeared to be under the influence of drugs.”
A search of Reynolds’ car uncovered three bags of mixed methamphetamine, weighing over 3.5g, 24.9g of 1,4-Butanediol, a large quantity of empty press-seal bags, $1,605 and multiple mobile phones.
Further analysis of an iPhone showed drug trafficking messages from August 5 to 17.
Reynolds was sentenced to two years and 10 months jail, with a non-parole period of 15 months.
Tarelle Lewis Charles Power-Williams
L-plater Tarelle Lewis Charles Power-Williams was dubbed the “most dangerous person in the state for the minutes that he was driving”.
Power-Williams, 20, was slapped with a jail term and indefinite driving ban after he admitted to “driving like a d***head” at 253km/h.
The learner driver was detected speeding at a whopping 253km/h in a 110km/h zone on the North-South Motorway at Waterloo Corner on January 30.
As a learner driver, he was only permitted to be driving at 100km/h.
Power-Williams was found 2km down the road, because his gearbox blew up from over revving, when he admitted to police he was “driving like a d***head”.
He was also sentenced for an earlier extreme speeding offence which saw him driving dangerously for 18 minutes through the northern suburbs.
Magistrate Ben Sale said Power-Williams’ appeared to have “no regard for his safety or anybody else’s safety”.
Power-Williams also previously pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking and attempted trafficking.
He was sentenced to one year and four months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of seven months. Plus disqualified from driving until further order, with a minimum period of six years.
His ute was crushed by South Australian Police to send a message to dangerous drivers.
Thomas Owens
Newcastle rapper Thomas Owens who recently released a song title ‘Not Guilty’ wiped away tears as he pleaded guilty to a number of charges at the Christies Beach Magistrate Court.
Owens told the court he had been slapped in the face by God after he was charged for the series of incidents at a popular beach.
The convicted criminal has a following on his rapper Facebook page which shows he has five number one iTunes albums including the new release.
Owens was at the Aldinga Beach Hotel on December 28, 2020 when he attacked a man, hitting him in the mouth area, resulting in a tooth coming out and him bleeding from the mouth.
Almost four months later, on April 2, 2021, a family were enjoying a relaxed day at Silver Sands beach when Owens started urinating on the victims car.
Two hours later, the victim confronted Owens.
“They engaged in a conversation but it doesn’t go so well and as a result the defendant slaps the victim in the face,” the police prosecutor described.
“The defendant then pulls out a knife … He (Owens) says ‘I’ll f**king stab you, I’ll kill you.
“However, no physical contact is made between the parties and the police attended the scene a short time later.”
At a hearing in July, Owens addressed the court and said guidance from God has put him on the right path.
“I had a relapse … Then I have a big slap in the face from God and he told me what I had to do and what has to be done,” he said.
Owens was convicted and sentenced to a suspended term of imprisonment for five months and 12 days.
Matthew Ryan Lozo Plush
Matthew Ryan Lozo Plush, a self-proclaimed spy for the Australian Government, clapped as he left court following a guilty to plea to disturbing the peace while at the Woodcroft Tavern.
Lozo Plush threw chairs and acted disorderly at the tavern on May 13.
When asked by Magistrate Gregory Fisher what he had to say about his offending, Lozo Plush asked to plead his human rights and said he was missing a woman who meant a lot to him.
“I care for someone a lot and she is very special to me, she lives the high life but she went away on business, that’s what it’s about,” he said.
When asked by the magistrate what he does for work, Lozo Plush said he was working in “secret among the community” at “NSA.gov (National Security Agency)” but was also on the disability support pension.
Lozo Plush also pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace on March 21 after neighbours heard him screaming and shouting at the top of his lungs during the night.
Lozo Plush was convicted for both matters and ordered to pay a fine of $300.
Sheree Nadine Hall
A grandmother who took over her jailed friend’s meth enterprise also wound up behind bars after cutting off her home detention bracelet and going on the run.
Sheree Nadine Hall, 50, was told by a judge that if she didn’t change her ways she’d be in-and-out of jail for the rest of her life – but not even that could stop her.
In January, Hall was sentenced to home detention after she pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking.
But only a month later she cut the home detention bracelet off and remained at large until April 30.
The court heard Hall travelled interstate while on the run and accompanied her daughter to Queensland as she needed help in relation to domestic violence matters.
Hall initially came to the attention of police when her car hit a tree at Largs Bay on June 17, 2019.
While in hospital, a plastic bag was found in her bra containing 8.26g of methamphetamine.
A further search of a Peterhead property found 9.73g of methamphetamine, $1300, two mobile phones, tick lists and digital scales.
During initial sentencing, Judge Fuller had stern words for Hall and told her she no longer had youth on her side.
“If you repeat the mistakes of your past and return to gambling and drugs and you can expect to … cycle in and out of jail until you burn out or you die,” she said.
“At best, your legacy to your children and grandchildren will be not to follow in your footsteps.
“At worst, you may lose them entirely.”
In June this year, Judge Michelle Sutcliffe revoked Fuller’s home detention order and ordered she serve the remaining three years and one month of her sentence in jail, with a non-parole period of two years and five months.
Jibran Zebian
Pizza shop worker Jibran Zebian was reprimanded by a magistrate for an “incredibly dangerous act” which saw him drag racing at a speed of 106km/h in a 60km/h zone.
Zebian, 21, of Seacombe Heights, claimed he had stopped beside his co-accused at a traffic light and had a conversation before accelerating to see which car was faster.
Zebian was one of two drivers stopped by police who were undertaking speed detection duties on Anzac Hwy at Camden Park around 9.50pm on October 11, 2021.
The other driver, Abed Alrahman Aljassar, 23, was detected for travelling at 124km/h.
Zebian and Aljassar, of Mitchell Park, pleaded guilty to street racing. Zebian also pleaded guilty to breaching a condition of a provisional licence.
Aljassar was sentenced to a $500, 12-month good behaviour bond and disqualified from driving for 15 months.
Zebian also avoided jail and was sentenced to a good behaviour bond for two years and was ordered to attend and participate in drive safety courses.
He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for 18 months.
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