Kim Venancio Taylor pleads guilty to stealing, wilful damage in Bundaberg court

An intoxicated father of two lifted a shopping trolley above his head before throwing it through the windows of Chemist Warehouse, then smashed a young bystander’s iPad.

Kim Venancio Taylor went on a tirade in Bundaberg.

A 38-year-old father of two was intoxicated when he lifted a metal shopping trolley above his head and threw it through the glass doors of Bundaberg’s Chemist Warehouse store on October 10 last year.

A young bystander had coincidentally dropped their iPad at the same time, and before they could reach it, Kim Venancio Taylor rushed to grab the device before holding it in both his hands and bending it around a street pole.

More police and court news

On Thursday, Taylor faced a string of charges in Bundaberg Magistrates Court including multiple charges of stealing where he stole either meat or alcohol and on one occasion, a packet of chips from The Hungry Tum.

Police told the court that seven of the eight stealing charges Taylor faced were after a previous stealing conviction, and that he had started to reoffend in the month after his parole had ended following a prison term for similar offending.

Taylor’s lawyer Lavonda Maloy told the court her client had a “long history of substance abuse” and had been experiencing some homelessness at the time of his offences.

Kim Venancio Taylor has faced court.

Magistrate Edwina Rowan recounted the events of the night of October 10, where Taylor had smashed the trolley through the glass panels of Chemist Warehouse before breaking his victim’s iPad.

She said he was intoxicated and uncooperative when police arrived.

Ms Rowan told the court the iPad had a lot of value to the victim and had been a gift.

The magistrate urged Taylor to also understand that even big retailers such as Coles or Dan Murphy’s, who he’d stolen from, suffered from shoplifting because they had to make a profit to provide local jobs.

Taylor pleaded guilty to eight counts of stealing, with seven of them being after a previous conviction, three counts of wilful damage, and one count each of public nuisance and possessing a knife in a public place, with the offences taking place between August 18 and November 1 last year.

It was heard the public nuisance charge related to the theft of the chips from Hungry Tum and the fact it had caused “significant distress” to an employee.

Taylor, who appeared in court via videolink from custody where he has spent the past four months, was handed a 12-month head sentence with a parole release date of March 6, 2023.

He must pay $500 restitution to the victim in order to compensate for the destroyed iPad.

Originally published as Kim Venancio Taylor pleads guilty to stealing, wilful damage in Bundaberg court