Benjamin Joel Henderson smashed glass doors of Sunshine Coast business to steal electronic equipment

A face-tattooed father who was caught by a police dog after smashing glass doors to steal property from Sunshine Coast businesses had “disturbing criminal history”.

A face tattooed father who smashed glass doors to steal property from Sunshine Coast businesses tried to run from police before being caught by a police dog.

Benjamin Joel Henderson broke into four Sunshine Coast businesses by smashing glass doors during a nine-day crime spree in July 2020, before he was arrested on August 5, 2020.

Police footage of the arrest shows how the now 24-year-old attempted to escape police by running into bushland but was quickly located by a police dog.

Maroochydore District Court on Monday heard Henderson stole a gel blaster and electronic equipment before abandoning a car with identification documents that led to police finding him.

Crown prosecutor William Slack said he smashed the glass doors of each business to get inside.

Mr Slack said he didn’t know the total value of the damaged and stolen property.

He said one business had a loss of just over $1000 and said it could be gleaned that other businesses experienced a similar cost.

Mr Slack said Henderson’s offending had breached his parole, probation and suspended sentences and asked for any prison sentence to be added to his current release date of January 8, 2022.

“He has a regrettably lengthy and similar criminal history for a person of his age,” he said.

Judge Michael Byrne agreed Henderson had a “disturbing criminal history”.

Mr Slack suggested a three-year prison sentence with a parole eligibility date after at least six months.

The court heard Henderson was on parole, probation and a suspended sentence at the time of the stealing spree.

Henderson pleaded guilty to five offences including four entering a premise to commit an indictable offence and one count of attempting to break into a premise to commit an indictable offence.

Barrister Clem van der Weegan said the father of three had fallen “off the wagon” at the time of the offences which he said were not sophisticated.

Mr van der Weegan said he believed the cost to each business would have been in the hundreds, not thousands.

He said Henderson had been accepted in a 20-hour resilience program and a 50-hour drug course and was engaging with a psychologist in custody before Covid-19 prevented his meetings.

“He is aware of his problem and his problem is drugs,” Mr van der Weegan said

“He has insight, finally in accepting that he has a problem with addiction (and) the problem with addiction needs to be addressed in a counselling rehabilitation sense otherwise he is going to be an ongoing recidivist.”

The court heard Henderson didn’t want to blame some trauma he had experienced leading up to the offending for his behaviour.

Mr van der Weegan said another probation order that would allow Henderson to continue his rehabilitation in the community would be more beneficial than in prison where Covid-19 lockdowns hindered programs and resources.

Mr Byrne said if he was to impose a probation order, it wouldn’t have any effect until Henderson was released and also noted his “history of noncompliance”.

He said he would not impose a cumulative sentence.

Henderson was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for the break and enter offences and two years for the attempted break and enter.

A parole eligibility date was set for May 7, 2022, delaying Henderson’s release by four months.

Combined with 411 days of pre-sentence custody Henderson will serve 20 months behind bars.

Originally published as Benjamin Joel Henderson smashed glass doors of Sunshine Coast business to steal electronic equipment