Richard Clay Robinson faces Toowoomba Magistrates Court on raft of charges

The 22-year-old started using drugs at 10 but a bush remedy was his hope of staying clean.

A 22-year-old man who admitted to having used illicit drugs since he was 10 was able to stay drug free when engaged in hard work in the bush, his solicitor told Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

Richard Clay Robinson appeared via video link from the prison to plead guilty to unlawfully using a vehicle at Oakey on August 18, 2022, and failing to appear in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on November 15; unlawfully using a Toyota sedan in Glenvale on December 17, 2022, unlawfully using a vehicle taken from a Westbrook residence on December 18 and used in a “drive off” from a service station nearby; entering the Aubigny Hotel and stealing property the same day and entering a Speed Rd, Aubigny, residence the same day and stealing a mobile phone, wallet, car keys and an air rifle; and unlawfully using a motorcycle taken from an Aubigny residence and stealing a purse and coin jar.

The court heard Robinson’s fingerprints and DNA had been found on the steering wheel of one vehicle and his fingerprints were found on the inside and outside of another.

Robinson’s solicitor Claire Graham, of Skuse Graham Lawyers, told the court her client had started using drugs at 10 and drugs had been an issue for him ever since.

However, when he was out west working in fencing and shearing he remained off drugs and it was hoped he would return to working in the bush when he was released from prison, she said.

Acting magistrate Kay Ryan said it was not unusual for someone using drugs to resort to crime to pay for those drugs.

She sentenced Robinson to 13 months in jail but, declaring 94 days he had already spent in pre-sentence custody, ordered he be released on parole on April 18 after having served almost one-third of the head sentence.