Peter James Connor loses appeal on burglary conviction

A security expert who was found guilty of stealing more than $20,000 in items and equipment from the River Heads Bottle Shop has appealed against his conviction made eight years after he was found guilty.

A security expert who stole more than $20,000 in items and equipment from the River Heads Bottle Shop has appealed against his conviction made eight years after he was found guilty. Photo: Alistair Brightman / Fraser Coast Chronicle

A security expert who was found guilty of stealing more than $20,000 worth of items and equipment from the River Heads Bottle Shop has lost an appeal against his conviction made eight years after the verdict.

Peter James Connor was found guilty of entering a premises with intent to commit an indictable offence and one count of stealing after a trial in Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in December 2015.

At the time the court heard the bottle shop had been broken into on December 14, 2013.

The trial magistrate found an internal alarm system and computer were removed and stolen by Connor and a co-accused, as well as a sum of money, alcoholic beverages and safe.

After he was convicted, Connor was ordered to pay $20,153.93 in compensation and served a period of imprisonment of 12 months, with an immediate parole release date.

Connor had a month to lodge an appeal against the verdict, which lapsed in January 2016.

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But on February 2022, almost seven years after being found guilty, he lodged an application for an extension of time to appeal.

He claimed he was under the impression he could receive a more severe sentence if he appealed.

He also claimed he could not afford legal representation at the time and that he and his family were being “harassed by Queensland police”, the published appeal judgment states.

Despite being outside the time limit, the appeal could still be granted if it was found that a miscarriage of justice would occur from its refusal, the documents read.

A recap of the trial in the judgement says Connor was a security systems expert who had installed and uninstalled the systems “many times”.

“His particular knowledge in this field supports the inference that he was capable of disabling the alarms in the manner which occurred,” the documents read.

At the time, witness Pape Ngatai, an employee at the River Heads Bottle Shop, gave evidence that the doors had been locked and the alarms set, the evening prior to the acts.

Hervey Bay Court. A security expert who stole more than $20,000 worth of items and equipment from the River Heads Bottle Shop has lost an appeal against his conviction made eight years after he was found guilty. Photo: Tracey Joynson

Jason William McHugh, from the security firm used by the business, gave evidence of discovering cut telephone lines which had disabled the alarm system.

Neither was accused of any wrongdoing.

Connor was connected to individuals, who were themselves tied to the River Heads Bottle Shop, the documents read.

The offence was motivated by “retribution”, the judgement says.

In his appeal Connor argued the “sole ground ... is that the verdict is unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the weakness of the identification evidence”.

During the trial a DNA expert testified after two water bottles were taken from the bottle shop from which swabs were taken that matched Connor’s DNA.

As part of his appeal, Connor alleged the photographs of the water bottles with markers on them were fabricated, as there was a delay in their being provided to him, and that his DNA may have been obtained and “planted” at the bottle shop.

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However, the judgement says there was “no evidence before the court to substantiate any of these claims”.

In addition to the DNA evidence, documents read that police had seized a pair of boots of “close similarity” to a shoeprint located at the bottle shop near the area where the telephone wires had been cut.

Connor also appealed on the grounds that his conviction was based on a “factual error”.

That was based on “what appears to be the statement that, while the prosecution case was that there was another offender, the applicant had been “left to carry the bag”.

Documents read that at the conclusion of the prosecution case, Connor had produced a memory stick that purported to show he and his wife at home at the time of the events, which he relied on as an alibi.

The presiding magistrate found this evidence was fabricated, the court documents say.

Overall the judgement says Connor’s long-delayed appeal fell short of the legal bar it needed to clear.

“That is, it is not shown that the interests of justice require the extension of time,” it says.

The parties were ordered to pay their own costs.

Originally published as Peter James Connor loses appeal on burglary conviction