A Mayfield man and his co-accused burgled an unoccupied Blackstone Heights' home on two successive nights and stole goods worth more $74,000, the Supreme Court in Launceston heard on Friday.
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Toby David Torrents pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary and two counts of stealing on July 10 and July 11, 2020.
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Slevin said the men drove to Blackstone Heights on the evening of July 10 and broke a window and entered via a laundry.
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They rampaged through the house damaging a television, blinds and pottery before forcing up a garage door so that one of them could roll into the garage.
The stole an electric bike and three road bicycles worth $18,797.
They took the wheels off and put them on the back seat of Torrents' Nissan Pulsar but left because they could not fit any more into the car.
The pair returned the next day using the same method of entry.
This time they took jewellery, electric tools, and a massive amount of household goods.
Ms Slevin said the total amount stolen on the second night was $55,689.
Damage worth $8434 was caused.
Torrents was arrested by police on July 12 for breaching curfew and during a search, they found a stolen camera and the remote control for the garage of the home.
He would not tell police where the property was gone and nothing further was recovered.
He told police he had not received any money for the burglary which was committed because he wanted to get out of Tasmania.
Defence counsel Lucy Flanagan said Torrents received a 13-month sentence in the Launceston Magistrate court in August this year for evading police and reckless driving and had an earliest release date of June 2021.
She said the former bakery worker's offending had ceased in July this year.
"That is only because he got locked up," Chief Justice Alan Blow remarked.
Chief Justice Blow said the value of the items stolen made it a serious crime.
"There were a number of bad things about these crimes, the value was very high, you were on bail at the time, and the fact that you returned to the place you had burgled because you had worked out that it was unoccupied," he said.
"These crimes are so serious that I will have to give you more jail time.
He handed Torrents a 12-month jail sentence cumulative to the existing 13-month sentence but suspended four months of it on the condition that he commit no imprisonable offence for two years after release.
A non-parole period of four months was set.
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.
