By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A YOUNG burglar with a conscience has escaped conviction after he and a friend impersonated a police officer over the phone to lure a Noble Park resident out of their home.
A man appeared in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court last Monday pleading guilty to taking part in an aggravated burglary.
He and an unnamed conspirator had called the victim about 8.28am on 4 October; one of the burglars identified himself as “Jason Tran from Springvale police”.
The court was told the victim was falsely told by the ‘police officer’ to go to the station due to neighbours complaining about noise in the victim’s house.
As the victim foundered in confusion at the police station, the burglars rode their bikes to the victim’s house and forced open a window with a screwdriver.
Police said the accused waited outside the window while his co-burglar rifled through items in the bedroom.
The snag in the burglars’ plan was that the victim’s 12-year-old daughter stayed home and was able to identify one of the intruders as a past boarder.
“She ran out and was very scared,” prosecutor Sue Benskin said.
“She watched them ride off on bicycles.”
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said he’d never heard of such a burglary plot.
“You think you’ve heard it all!” he said.
He ordered the accused to perform 150 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month community corrections order.
Half of those hours could include drug addiction treatment.
He said the accused, who appeared in court with a YSAS youth worker, was spared conviction for pleading guilty with full admissions and having no prior convictions.
However he noted it was a “bad burglary”.
“That would have had a huge impact on that little girl at that time of the morning, in her own house.
“It’s not opportunistic at all. The amount of pre-meditation was high. There’s a number of aggravating factors.”
Mr Vandersteen said that since the offence, the accused had taken “excellent steps” in his rehabilitation from drug use, depression and anxiety that had stemmed from a difficult childhood.
“Given your background I thought you would have been in a lot more trouble so the steps you’ve taken… show you have a deep conscience.
“You’ve done as much as a young person can do given the issues you’ve faced.
“It’s very impressive to see before the court there’s someone… taking the rehabilitative steps you’ve taken.”
