A magistrate has scoffed at a young Thurgoona man's claim he committed a break-in because he was "hanging around with the wrong crowd".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Instead, it was up to Matthew Douglas to not make decisions he knew to be wrong.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"You're as much a part of the crime as anyone else," Mr Funston said.
Nevertheless, Mr Funston said he was willing to accept the now 20-year-old's offending was a "one-off".
The unemployed man pleaded guilty to a single charge of break and enter house and steal, for which he was placed on a 12-month community corrections order.
Defence lawyer Sascha McCorriston said what brought Douglas before the court "is certainly a very serious offence".
Ms McCorriston said Douglas, in his own words, was hanging with the wrong crowd, but had since broken-off any contact with these people.
"He is a very young man who's got some strong prospects of rehabilitation," she said.
Douglas was 19 and serving a 12-month community corrections order over an affray charge at the time of the break-in.
Police told the court how the victim closed the roller door and side door to the garage of his Lester Street, Albury, home on February 1 about 7pm.
Both doors remained unlocked.
Acting on information provided over the police radio, officers began patrols in the vicinity of Lester and Thurgoona streets the next day about 3.30am.
That was when they found an $8000 go-kart abandoned at the top of a driveway in Lester Street, not far from the victim's home. Witnesses reported seeing two unknown men.
Earlier, the go-kart was parked inside the victim's garage, where Douglas's palm prints were discovered.
A bottle of vodka and other alcohol were also stolen in the burglary, police said.
