Dominique John Ellis pleads guilty in Roma Magistrates Court to stealing

A Roma man who snuck through a window into a woman’s home to steal board games and PlayStation games has told a court he was just feeding her pet bird.

Facing court with a whopping 28 stealing-related offences on his criminal history, a 45-year-old Roma is back to his old tricks after a four year hiatus.

Dominique John Ellis pleaded guilty in Roma Magistrates Court to one count of stealing.

Police prosecutor Mathew Donnelly said on February 26 at 5.30pm Ellis was seen sneaking through a window into a Roma woman’s home.

The two witnesses, who were park managers at the Big Rig Caravan Park, were patrolling the site on their golf cart when they noticed a flyscreen on the ground in front of one of the cabins.

“One of the witnesses picked up the flyscreen from the ground and fixed it back onto the window,” Mr Donnelly said.

“At this point in time both witnesses could not see clearly into the cabin as the blind was down. Witnesses stated they could not hear anyone inside the cabin. They then returned to their office.

“They had returned to the cabin two minutes later to make sure the flyscreen was still secured, they both saw the defendant on the outside of the cabin front window, and the co-defendant holding the flyscreen in his hands assisting the defendant to exit.

“The co-defendant then placed the front fly screen back on. Witnesses then saw the defendant and co-defendant giving each other what they thought to be DVDs. Then they went back to their cabins.

“Witnesses went back to the office to alert the victim of what just happened and make a formal complaint.”

Upon inspection the 25-year-old victim noticed four PlayStation games and four board games were missing from her room.

The following day on February 27 police attended the Big Rig Caravan Park to speak with Ellis.

He told police he entered the dwelling to feed the bird for his friend who used to live there.

“He stated he was the only one who entered the cabin and he didn’t remove any items from the cabin,” Mr Donnelly said.

“The defendant has an extensive history. This is a serious matter, but it is not at the higher end of the scale and there has been a period between his last entry.”

Mr Donnelly said he believed a fine or community service order would be appropriate.

However acting magistrate Michael Bice said only a term of imprisonment would suffice considering Ellis’ 28 prior entries for dishonesty offences.

“I doubt a community service order or anything like that will do any good, he needs to have something hanging over his head,” Mr Bice said.

“I agree nothing else other than a sentence of imprisonment is warranted because it’s a type of similar offending.

“The only thing that saves him today from going to jail is the fact there’s quite a bit of a gap between offending.

“I do agree it’s on a lower level and you shouldn’t have to serve any, but for it (a suspended sentence) to just hang over your head.”

Ellis was sentenced to six months imprisonment wholly suspended for 18 months.

A conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Dominique John Ellis pleads guilty in Roma Magistrates Court to stealing