A 76-year-old woman was asleep in bed when three people broke into her house at Western Creek and stole possessions worth $20,000.
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Joshua Michael Brown, 32, of Rocherlea, pleaded guilty in the Launceston Magistrates Court to the aggravated burglary about 3.15am on April 26, 2020.
Police prosecutor Jarrod Lightfoot said Brown was on court bail at the time of the offence and was under the influence of methylamphetamine.
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He said that Brown told police that he and two others travelled to the area because they believed there was a lot of money in the house.
Brown found keys and opened the door and grabbed jewellery and electrical items. When a sensor light came on the woman, who was asleep in bed, yelled out.
Brown went into the bedroom and told her to stay in bed and not come out.
"The complainant stayed under the bed covers," Mr Lightfoot said.
Ten minutes after the offenders left in two vehicles she rang police.
They went to Longford where they withdrew $1000 from an ATM of which Brown took $800.
"The total value of the thefts was about $20,000 of which $12,000 has been recovered," Mr Lightfoot said.
"The complainant was shaken but not physically hurt."
In a police interview, Brown said he had no idea that anyone was in the house believing it to be a "horse trainer's house".
Police identified the two vehicles via CCTV footage from a business in Deloraine.
Mr Brown also pleaded guilty to a string of other offences including burglary and stealing, firearms, drug and driving offences during a four-month crime spree.
In March 2020 Brown and an accomplice cut a hole in a cyclone fence to get into a Tasmania Police impoundment yard and but were caught when a motion-sensor CCTV alerted police.
"When interviewed he said he opened 6-10 cars looking for ones that belonged to him," Mr Lightfoot said.
Brown told police that he was using $200-400 of methylamphetamine a day.
The court heard that at the time of the aggravated burglary Brown was the beneficiary of two suspended sentences dating from 2018, one of four months and another of 28 days.
Magistrate Ken Stanton activated the sentences and backdated them to May 1 when Brown was taken into custody.
Brown pleaded not guilty to several offences for which a hearing will be conducted in August.
Defence counsel Lucy Flanagan sought that Brown be sentenced by way of a drug treatment order-where offenders can avoid an actual jail term if they undergo drug treatment.
Mr Stanton sought an assessment of whether Brown was suitable for a drug treatment order and adjourned proceedings until August 3.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
