Dillon Colin Marshall in court for unlawful use of a motor vehicle

A convicted drug trafficker and arsonist, who torched a stolen car, might have gotten away with another crime had it not been thirsty work.

Dillon Colin Marshall, 27.

A convicted drug trafficker and arsonist, who torched a stolen car, has been linked to another vehicle stolen from a home in The Range through DNA found on a bottle left in the ute.

Dillon Colin Marshall, 27, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on June 20 to one count each of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, enter premises and commit indictable offence.

He also pleaded guilty to evading police, failing to give a statutory declaration, possessing pipes or utensils that had been used, driving an unregistered vehicle and two counts of disqualified driving.

Police prosecutor Clancy Fox said a silver Toyota HiLux was stolen from a man’s home on Davis St, The Range, in March 2022 and later found bogged in the mud near the saleyards.

Mr Fox said a forensic examination linked Marshall to a mouthpiece on a bottle in the passenger side door.

“The defendant was interviewed about it,” he said.

“He recalls he was having issues at the time and hanging around the wrong people and may have been in that vehicle but was sure he wasn’t the driver.

“He stated that if a mate picks him up he doesn’t ask questions about the car.”

Mr Fox said Marshall went to a home on Rockonia Rd, Rockhampton, in July 2021 with four other males and banged on the wall and front door of the home before smashing a window and cutting himself on some smashed glass and fleeing.

He said a forensic examination linked Marshall to the offence.

He said Marshall evaded police in Rockhampton City in December 2021 and was also caught driving with a court disqualified licence in 2021 where he was also found in possession of glass pipes and a grinder, and again in January 2022 where he was driving an unregistered vehicle with a disqualified licence.

The court heard Marshall was recently sentenced to three years prison with immediate parole eligibility in Rockhampton District Court for torching a stolen car in March 2022.

Defence lawyer Grant Cagney said his client was also jailed in the District Court for 2.5 years in May 2021 for trafficking marijuana, where he was granted immediate parole release.

Mr Cagney said the majority of offences before the court were committed while his client was on parole.

“He was released and didn’t do very well on parole,” he said.

“He did stay off the drugs and was going okay until his mother passed.

“He went slightly off the rails again and he knew once he committed an offence that his parole was going to be yanked.”

Mr Cagney said his client had fallen into the wrong crowd and was not the driver of the stolen vehicle but conceded that he was in the vehicle.

He said the enter premises charge related to his client’s ex-partner and was “childish and immature”.

“He had been having some call outs from her new partner,” he said.

Magistrate Cameron Press sentenced Marshall to 10 months prison, with immediate parole eligibility and declared 482 days of pre-sentence custody as time already served.

Marshall was also sentenced to six months prison, wholly suspended for 12 months for the enter premises charge.

He was further disqualified from driving for six years and the drug utensils were forfeited to the Crown.

Originally published as Dillon Colin Marshall in court for unlawful use of a motor vehicle