Burglar’s $9 theft caused thousands in damage

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A man who caused thousands of dollars in damage to get $9 worth of coins has been ordered to pay restitution.

Tyrone Ming, 52, was tracked down by the DNA traces on his shirt, which he left behind at the crime scene.

Magistrates’ Court heard it had taken months for police to find Ming because he keeps no fixed address.

Ming pleaded guilty to burgling Anthony’s, a clothes shop on Church Street, on or about July 3, 2012.

According to Crown counsel Larissa Burgess, the store was locked up at 11pm on the night before, but in the morning staff found the front gate drawn and a glass door smashed.

The cash register had been thrown to the floor, and change totalling $9 taken — but a shirt that wasn’t part of the stock had been left behind on a stool.

Forensics identified Ming’s DNA on the shirt, and he was eventually arrested on January 9 along North Shore Road.

Ming denied the offence, claiming he had stayed at a friend’s house where his clothes had been borrowed, but subsequent interviews debunked his alibi.

In court, Ming told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner his daughter had cancer and needed him, adding: “I beg you not to send me to jail.”

Mr Warner gave him the choice of a $500 fine or three months’ imprisonment, also ordering Ming to pay the $2,000 door bill to the shop’s owner within 30 days or face another three months. Ming got an additional six-month sentence, suspended for two years.

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