Ryan Thomas Webster-Mill, 29, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to four counts of burglary, four counts of theft, two counts of going equipped to steal and possessing a controlled weapon.
Prosecutor Ibrahim Abdalla told the court Webster-Mill broke into Shepparton Plaza on August 8 last year, before forcing entry into a back room of the Smokemart, Gift Box and Vape store.
He took $1000 worth of cigarettes from behind the counter.
Webster-Mill then used a jemmy bar to break into a vending machine at the plaza and steal the small change in it.
The court was told that about four weeks later, on September 2, Webster-Mill again broke into the Smokemart, Gift Box and Vape store after climbing on the roof and entering through the ceiling.
This time he took $6000 worth of cigarettes from behind the front counter, Mr Abdalla said.
In the process of climbing through the ceiling, Webster-Mill cut himself and blood found at the scene matched his DNA.
Mr Abdalla said when police searched Webster-Mill’s house the following day, they found bolt cutters hidden on his bed between the mattress and the base, a packet of cigarettes and a pouch of tobacco in a jacket pocket and a packet of cigarettes in the car believed to have been stolen.
His phone also contained photos of the stolen cigarettes and messages between him and various contacts organising to sell the cigarettes.
Two laser pointers and knuckledusters were also found.
The court also heard that in a separate incident, Webster-Mill broke into Gowrie St Primary School in Shepparton and stole four Acer laptop computers worth $4800 between December 4 and 8, 2020.
He also pleaded guilty in court to two counts of failing to comply with a community corrections order.
Webster-Mill’s solicitor Yvonne Kushnir told the court her client was “overwhelmed” at the time of the offences as he was working full-time and had just taken over care of his two children on his own as his new partner had been remanded in custody for other matters.
This combination of events had “triggered his mental health decline” and Webster-Mill had relapsed into drug use, Ms Kushnir said.
Magistrate Peter Mithen sentenced Webster-Mill to five months in prison for the offences, with the 130 days he has spent in pre-sentence detention to count as time already served.
He was also sentenced to a further month in prison for the community corrections breaches.
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