A resident of a retirement village woke in the night to find a burglar in her bedroom rifling through her jewellery boxes, a Bendigo court has heard.
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Tristan Boyd pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Thursday to 23 charges, including two counts of aggravated burglary, driving unlicensed, damaging property, dealing with the proceeds of crime, two counts of handling stolen goods, and numerous counts of theft, obtaining property by deception, committing indictable offences on bail and contravening bail conditions.
Late on March 10, the 18-year-old tore the flyscreen off a window to a Kangaroo Flat retirement village unit and entered, stealing more than $200 in cash from a jar in the kitchen, a phone and a purse.
Boyd then went into the bedroom where the victim was sleeping and rummaged through the jewellery boxes, waking the victim.
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She yelled and he left, but took jewellery and coins. The total value of the stolen goods was $10,750.
Boyd's fingerprints were found on a window and after his arrest certain items were found at the home where he had stayed, although the phone, pearls and cash were not recovered.
Also found was a phone Boyd had stolen from a Kangaroo Flat address along with cigarettes and a wallet.
Boyd was also responsible for a burglary in McCrae Street, Bendigo in the early hours of March 13, while a person slept in the home.
From there he stole a wallet - which contained cards, personal papers and $500 - a gold watch, car keys and a car.
Two days later Boyd was captured on CCTV pulling up in Garsed Street in the stolen vehicle. He did not have a driver's licence.
A short time later police recovered the vehicle and found stolen property from the March 10 burglary inside.
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On March 20, Boyd used a stolen credit card to purchase $10 of goods from a Bendigo store.
The following month he used another stolen bank card to buy $55 of goods from a Kangaroo Flat supermarket, and made two further purchases of $39.95 and $9.95 later that morning.
Police also saw Boyd in Seymour in the early hours of April 15, when his bail conditions required he be at a Kangaroo Flat address between 8pm and 8am.
When police checked that address, the occupant said Boyd had not lived there for about five weeks.
Boyd denied to police committing the second burglary, saying he had been asleep and, later, that his drink had been spiked and he did not remember anything.
He said an unknown person gave him the keys to the vehicle
In his interviews, he also said he had a split personality and there were two of him.
Boyd said he understood his bail conditions but he was kicked out of his bail address and was "shy" and did not know who to call.
He told police someone forced him to make the purchases with the first stolen card, and the second card was handed to him by another person and he gave it back once he realised it was not in their name.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Rolfe told the court Boyd had a significant intellectual disability and was illiterate, and had been hanging around with other young men who had him do various "jobs".
Mr Rolfe submitted he be sentenced to the 14 days of custody he had already served and a community corrections order, which he could complete in Queensland where he planned to live with his father.
Boyd told the court he was doing as many courses as possible while in custody to prepare him for employment.
"I just want to get my life back on track," he said.
But while he did not oppose a community corrections order, prosecutor Sergeant Mark Snell said 14 days in custody was insufficient in relation to the aggravated burglaries.
Magistrate Sarah Leighfield said she wanted more information on Boyd's intellectual disability and any possible mental health issues before sentencing, as these would influence her decision.
But she said the two weeks he had already served was not long enough.
Boyd was remanded in custody for sentencing next month.
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