Shearer guilty of ice-fuelled theft of guns keen to turn life around

Lucas Robert Walters, 38, was a law-abiding shearer for many years but the County Court sitting in Bendigo heard a series of tragic deaths and undiagnosed mental health concerns had led to him using methylamphetamine daily as well as drugs like GHB.

Prosecutor Zubin Menon told the court that Mr Walters was charged with the following crimes dated between May 9 and 19, 2023:

He has pleaded guilty to all four counts and will await sentencing from Port Phillip Prison where he is completing a previously imposed five-month prison sentence.

The court heard the matter of gun thefts was the most serious of the charges - particularly as two of the weapons are yet to be recovered.

Police searched Mr Walters' Kerang home on May 19 and discovered one air rifle - registered to the victim - and a red coloured purse and bankcards in the name of the victim's wife.

Mr Walters was arrested for unrelated matters and taken to the Kerang Police Station.

In an interview he said he had found the air rifle on the bank of the Loddon River two days earlier while he was looking for bottles and said he didn't know who owned it. He later admitted to stealing it.

Police said the rear glass sliding door of the burgled home had been forced open causing its handle to break.

Cupboard doors inside the house had been left open in a "ransacked condition".

The gun safe had its door prised and bent open with sections of the metal door appearing to be cut or torn in the process.

A cigarette butt from the home matched the DNA of Walters while his phone data reflected he had been in the specific area during the time of the burglary.

He was formally charged in August 2023.

Judge Sarah Leighfield heard that before his recent incarceration, Mr Walters had a single prior from 2004, which did not carry a conviction.

Defence barrister Kate Ballard told the court Mr Walters had significant family support

Ms Ballard said "something obviously went very wrong" to bring the man into contact with the justice system.

She said his life had "descended into drug abuse and disfunction" after mutual drug use is a "relationship that was not healthy".

The father of five was described as coming from a "very loving and stable family background".

Ms Ballard said he had possible unaddressed mental health issues at the time of his crimes but was now medicated and engaging with medical professionals.

She said he was also dealing with unresolved grief from the deaths of three close friends and two family members from 2013 to 2020.

The court heard Mr Walters had lost a friend in 2013 when he was crushed by a livestock loading ramp followed by the death of his father who fell into a body of water while collecting bottles - which led to him getting water in his lungs and having a heart attack.

The court heard that in 2018 Mr Walters' maternal grandmother died and then he lost his friend to suicide, followed by the death of another friend in 2020 who passed away in their sleep.

Ms Ballard said that was a "lot of loss for a reasonably young person".

She was positive about her client's prospects as he was eager to engage with medical help and was no longer using drugs which he used to "numb everything".

Ms Ballard said her client wanted to turn his life around and was working in welding within the prison system.

He will be assessed for a community corrections order and will be sentenced on March 18.

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