Man who loitered at Village Cinemas says he wasn’t hassling kids

A homeless man who was arrested for loitering near a cinema games area before busting out of police custody and fleeing through the streets of Hobart has revealed in court why he did it.

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A HOMELESS man who was arrested for loitering near the Village Cinemas games area – before he busted out of police custody and fled through the streets of Hobart – says he was just bored and wasn’t trying to talk with kids.

Adam Keith Moore, 39, was arrested on November 26 last year after the cinema manager called police about a man hovering near the gaming machines.

The Hobart Magistrates Court heard on Monday that when police arrived, they checked Moore’s history and discovered he had a previous criminal conviction that meant he was under an order not to loiter near children.

Officers took him into custody, but Moore then broke out of their grasp and fled on foot before police arrested him again on Macquarie Street.

Moore has pleaded guilty to a raft of charges mostly committed last year including escape, trespass, loitering, multiple stealing charges, destroying property and burglary.

The court was told that during one instance, he entered a Chemist Warehouse store and took a key from across a cash register and used it to open a fragrance cabinet.

On another occasion, he broke in to the Salamanca Inn and stole a number of objects before he was later found inside the kitchen of the Nook Backpackers in Liverpool St.

On another occasion, he broke into an apartment at the Quest Hotel and used milk to make a hot drink.

But Moore’s lawyer said much of his offending was related to his homelessness.

“He often wanders into place for shelter,” he said.

His lawyer also said he’d watched the CCTV footage of Moore at Village Cinemas and said he simply tried to use the games machines and rest on seating in the foyer.

“Although he was loitering and there were children nearby, he wasn’t interacting with anyone,” he said.

“There’s no inference of anything untoward at any stage.”

Moore, who has already served 149 days behind bars, will return to court on July 31 for sentence.

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