AMount Gambier father of three has been convicted for a Christmas crime that created waves last year.
Joshua Douglas Beck, 49, appeared in custody via audio visual link in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court last week, presided over by Magistrate Koehn.
Mr Beck was convicted of theft and unlawfully on premises for breaking into a cool room trailer at the rear of Collins Court Butcher on December 21 and allegedly stealing up to $7000 worth of seafood and meat.
“At about 5.50am on the 22nd of December 2023, the victim attended the Collins Court Butcher and observed a freezer trailer that he was using as storage for the Christmas orders had been broken into,” Mount Gambier Police Prosecutor Pero Kolundzic said.
“He estimated that approximately $7000 worth of meat and seafood was stolen from the freezer trailer.
“There was CCTV of the incident, this shows that at about 11.40pm on the 21st of December 2023, a person jemmying the lock mechanism from the door and seals, taking numerous bags of meat.
“At about 2.15am on the 22nd of December 2023, two males returned to the freezer trailer and removed further bags of meat from the freezer trailer.”
The matter was reported to police on the morning of December 22, 2023, who obtained the footage.
“The footage they say had shown the defendant or someone with the likeness of the defendant as the person who is breaking into the trailer,” Prosecutor Kolundzic said.
“Police then at about 2pm on the 23rd of December attended the home address of the defendant.
“They conducted a search on the authority of a general search warrant held by an authorised police officer.
“The defendant was not home at the time and police located each product suspected from the fridge. They located salmon fillets, beef shortribs, a sealed packet of prawns and 13 packets of chicken breasts.
“The victim then identified these items as the items belonging to them and in fact I have got photographs of them and they have stamps from the Collins Court Butcher on them in blue. It is quite evident it is from that same victim.”
The court heard Mr Beck also stole a mobile phone worth $85 from Kmart in Mount Gambier on January 7, 2023 and nearly $500 worth of meat and chocolate from Coles Mount Gambier across three days in September 2023.
“There is an ongoing pattern here, this not a one off and there is a principle of personal and general deterrence and also for reassuring the community and for the community’s safety, I think the only appropriate penalty is further imprisonment,” Prosecutor Kolundzic said.
Mr Beck’s lawyer Michael Hill told the court the items stolen from Coles and Collins Court Butcher were taken with the intention to swap them for drugs.
“Mr Beck has had an ongoing problem with drug abuse and the income he was receiving was not a lot and his habit unfortunately got a bit out of control and that resulted in taking items in order to be able to afford his ongoing dependency,” Mr Hill said.
The court heard that Mr Beck had an extensive history of theft and has spent a total of 17 years in custody throughout his life “for largely repetitive offences over and over again”.
Mr Beck was convicted and sentenced to a year and two months imprisonment backdated to June 23, 2024 with a non-parole period of six months.
