Lara Lee Duncan returned to jail after committing Kearneys Spring burglary while on parole

The 23-year-old parolee broke into a Kearneys Spring home and tried to steal a car, but the homeowner was having none of it.

A 23-year-old Toowoomba man who was on parole when he tried to steal a car from a Kearneys Spring home only to be overpowered by the homeowner has been returned to prison.

Lara Lee Duncan had gained access to the home via an open garage door about 1.30am, January 24, and once inside the house stole the keys to a car in that garage, Toowoomba District Court heard.

The homeowner was woken by the sound of his car being reversed out of the garage and ran to stop Duncan, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court.

When the homeowner grabbed Duncan through the car window, the car stopped and the complainant tried to take the keys from the ignition.

However, when Duncan said he had a knife the complainant backed off, telling him to take the car but to allow him to retrieve some property from the vehicle, she said.

Lara Lee Duncan, 23, pleaded guilty to entering burglary and spitting on a police officer.

When the homeowner realised Duncan didn’t have a knife but a torch in his pocket, a scuffle ensued during which time Duncan punched the man while having the car keys in his hand which left cuts to the man’s face, Ms Friedewald said.

The man detained Duncan until police arrived and arrested him, she said.

At the watch house as Duncan was being led to a cell and without warning, he turned and spat in a police officer’s face, the court heard.

Duncan pleaded guilty to burglary and stealing, unlawful entry of a vehicle in the night while using violence and pretending to be armed and serious assault of police.

Ms Friedewald said Duncan at the time of the offences had been on parole having been sentenced to 18 months in jail with immediate parole in May 2022 after pleading guilty before the Hervey Bay District Court to burglary and going armed to cause fear arising from offences of June 2021.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC sentenced Duncan to two and half years in jail with parole eligibility as of March 27, 2024, which will be 14 months after he was returned to prison for the Kearneys Spring offences.