Jailed for shoplifting $54 of goods from store

A GRAFTON man has faced court and pleaded guilty to a larceny charge after he stole a number of items from a Coffs Harbour store

Grafton Court House. Picture: Caitlan Charles

A GRAFTON man who shoplifted items worth a total of $54 from a Coffs Harbour bargain store will spend at least the next six months behind bars after his sentencing on Monday.

Michael Martin, 31, appeared in Grafton Local Court after pleading guilty to one charge of larceny.

According to police facts tendered to court, Martin and the co-accused, his partner, entered Super Bargain Store inCoffs Harbour about 4pm on June 5 last year and concealed a number of items in the co-accused's stroller, including two extension cords, a pack of bicycle light bulbs, gel pens, a television antenna, a fidget spinner and a skeleton skull.

The pair were captured on CCTV taking items off the shelves and stashing them in the stroller before they both left without paying.

Police were contacted and shown the footage.

Both Martin and the co- accused were known to police and easily identified by distinctive tattoos.

In court on Monday, Martin's solicitor, Greg Coombes, argued the offence was on the lower end of the scale of objective seriousness and that the co-accused, who had already been dealt with by the court, had received a "slap on the wrist".

Magistrate Karen Stafford said Martin had an extensive criminal history with similar offences and was on parole for another unrelated offence at the time of the larceny charge.

Ms Stafford sentenced Martin to an eight-month prison term with a non-parole period of six months, and ordered him to to pay $54 in compensation to the Super Bargain Store.

Originally published as Jailed for shoplifting $54 of goods from store