One packet of cigarettes costs Toowoomba man $550

He had bought the packet of cigarettes with a credit card that had been reported stolen and linked to the theft of a car.

One packet of cigarettes ultimately cost this Toowoomba man $550.

THE use of a stolen credit card to buy a packet of smokes had been traced back to the theft of a car from a Centenary Heights residence just hours before, the city’s Magistrates Court has been told.

However, it was accepted that Blake Dylan Graham had nothing to do with the car theft but had been given the stolen credit card which he had used to obtained a packet of cigarettes, the court heard.

Police prosecutor Natalie Bugden told the court the Nissan X-Trail’s owner, and 80-year-old woman who cared for her 85-year-old wheelchair bound husband, had been gardening in her front yard about 5.40pm, November 29, when she heard her car parked in the driveway start up.

She looked up to see a man driving away in her car, Sergeant Bugden said.

The keys to the vehicle had been in the woman’s handbag which had been stolen from inside the home where her husband had been sleeping.

Also in the handbag at the time was $250 in cash, the woman’s mobile phone and credit cards, Sgt Bugden said.

Police a short time later found the victim’s discarded wheelchair and other items from the car on the grounds of the Toowoomba Showgrounds, she said.

Investigations led to one Toowoomba store where CCTV footage showed the man accused of stealing the car using the stolen credit card just 24 minutes after the theft while Graham was captured by CCTV camera at another store using the car a short time after that to buy cigarettes.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to once count of fraud.

His solicitor Joe Millican said his client had been homeless at the time and while he had eight pages of criminal history, his client had no previous for like offending.

Magistrate Howard Osborne fined Graham $500 and ordered he pay $49.55 restitution.