Youths’ crime spree

Updated November 7 2012 - 2:24am, first published July 1 2010 - 11:56am

A BENDIGO teenager who tagged along with his friends when they broke into the Bendigo showgrounds pavilion and a Bendigo school will be sentenced in August.The three men stole several thousands dollars worth of items during their crime spree.Stewart Love, 18, pleaded guilty in Bendigo Magistrates Court yesterday to three counts of burglary and 11 counts of theft.Magistrate William Gibb was told Love and his friends used boltcutters and other tools to break into the pavilion late on May 5 this year.The court was told Love and the two other teenagers, both 17, then entered the building and used stolen suitcases and carrybags to collect items from various stalls.They then returned to the home of one of the youths.The court was told that two nights later the youths repeated the same routine.Leading Senior Constable Dave Somerton, prosecuting, said the stolen items included video games and a chainsaw and had left the store owners several thousand dollars out of pocket.The court was told that the following night the boys broke into a school in Bendigo. Leading Senior Constable Somerton said that their attempts at disabling the alarm system failed.He said a security guard attended the scene.Leading Senior Constable Somerton said one of the co-accused assaulted the security guard and all three fled the scene.Love was arrested on May 12 and made full admissions to the burg-laries.Defence lawyer Kate Youngson told the court Love did not initiate the burglaries, but simply tagged along with his friends.She said he accepted that what he had done was wrong and that his full and frank admissions to police proved that he was remorseful.Ms Youngson asked the court to take into account Love’s guilty plea and the fact that it was his first time in trouble with the law.Magistrate William Gibb adjourned the case to August 26 for sentencing.

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