Serial sex shop thief fronts court for stealing dildo, ‘foreplay costume’

A SERIAL sex shop thief has avoided jail time for lifting multiple sex toys from Sexyland

Alec Gladigau leaves Darwin Local Court after pleading guilty to stealing.

A SERIAL sex shop thief has avoided jail time for stealing more than $400 in sex toys from Sexyland, including a neon blue dildo and “a foreplay costume”.

Alec Gladigau, 30, appeared in the Darwin Local Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing from the Stuart Park Sexyland store.

The court heard that on August 17 last year, Gladigau stole a neon blue dildo, valued at $89.95, from the store. His partner and co-accused, who is also charged with stealing, is yet to face court.

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The following month, on September 20, Gladigau returned to Sexyland and stole $342 of items including; “a foreplay costume”, a “silver choker collar”, three pairs of ladies’ underwear, a singular ankle cuff, a black lace mask and a bullet vibrator.

The court heard he stole a total of $431 in products.

Judge Greg Macdonald said a number of photographs of the stolen items and a victim impact statement from the store owners were tendered in court as evidence.

The various items were stolen from Sexyland, Stuart Park.

Gladigau’s legal aid lawyer, Joshua Bach, told the court his client’s offending was related to his addiction to methamphetamine.

“At age 21 he was a victim of a serious assault. He was struck in the head with a baseball bat at a social function and was in hospital for about eight weeks,” Mr Bach said.

“After that he suffered ongoing difficulties and he struggled to work. He fell into periods of very poor mental health and drug use.

“The offending took place in this context.”

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Mr Bach said Gladigau’s partner and co-accused was a “positive influence on him” when they began dating in 2019.

The court heard Gladigau was very remorseful for his offending.

In sentencing Gladigau to pay back half of the money owed to Sexyland, Mr Macdonald said he was lucky not to be going to prison.

“Your situation is complicated,” he said.

“(But), I’ve got no sympathy for people who go and steal things from shops.

“Any shop’s entitled to run a business without people going in and lifting things.”

Gladigau was also sentenced to a nine month good behaviour bond.

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