Hamish Bullough ran out of money and so stole a few hundred dollars from the till at work, despite knowing security cameras would be watching.
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It was a crime that stumped Albury magistrate Tony Murray, given Bullough’s good character and him doing his second university degree.
“I think it’s absolutely stupid for a person of his intelligence,” he said.
Defence solicitor Chris Halburd said the offending was quite out of character.
“My client is at a loss to explain the motivation behind this,” he said.
Mr Halburd said Bullough, who now lived with his girlfriend’s parents at Wangaratta, was only working part-time when he committed his offending.
That was because he was also doing an environment science degree that he hoped would one day get him a job as a park ranger.
A conviction though, Mr Halburd said, could make it extremely difficult for Bullough to secure a government position.
Mr Murray was told Bullough had been living in Albury and working at the Lavington liquor outlet BWS.
He had held down the job for three years, doing everything from customer service to store maintenance.
But on December 1, a manager was given an anonymous tip-off about Bullough.
Ten days later a BWS regional manager attended the store to inspect CCTV footage, which revealed Bullough’s thieving.
Each time that involved Bullough putting a customer’s purchase through the register, then after they left he selected “no sale” and took money out of the till.
Bullough pleaded guilty to six counts of steal property as a clerk or servant over the $443.70 he took.
He was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond, without conviction.