Lucas Ryan Stuart-Holmes pleads guilty to fraud, stealing offences
A young man who helped pinch and cash in a domestic violence support charity’s recycling bins claimed he wasn’t aware he was taking part in a crime.
Police & Courts
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When Lucas Ryan Stuart-Holmes was invited to help steal a charity’s recycling bins before cashing their contents in at a recycling depot, he didn’t realise he was being involved in a crime.
That was his case as he pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday, October 10, to one count of stealing and another of fraud.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Dean Burgess told the court Stuart-Holmes, 25, targeted Hearts of Purple, a charity which provides help to those in danger of domestic violence, and runs a purple bin program to fundraise for victims.
The offending happened on July 4, 2022, with two men stealing the charity’s purple bins and cashing their contents in at CQ Recycling on Woongarra St.
But the sight of the two men cashing in the charity’s bins raised concerns, and police were soon called.
Magistrate John McInnes said any reasonable person should have realised the plan to take the bins and cash in their contents was not right.
“In relation to the stealing of the bins and the cans, you accepted the word of the co-offender that it was ok to do that,” he said.
“Obviously those circumstances should have made any reasonable person suspicious ... I think you probably wilfully closed your eyes to circumstances that suggested that it might not have been kosher.”
The court was told that Stuart-Holmes, a former tree lopper, planned to attend a rehabilitation program in Rockhampton and would relocate to Gracemere.
He was sentenced to one months’ prison for each count of stealing and fraud, to run concurrently, with immediate parole.
Originally published as Lucas Ryan Stuart-Holmes pleads guilty to fraud, stealing offences
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