By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A 39-YEAR-old drug addict has been jailed after pleading guilty to stealing from a resident’s shed in Dewhurst and a fire-damaged house in Berwick.
Matthew Lyall Gault, with a male accomplice, had taken brass fittings and a vintage children’s pedal car from the Dewhurst shed on 20 January.
The shed had been burgled twice in the previous fortnight, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard.
Gault later told police he’d sold the brass fittings for $400 to a Dandenong scrap metal yard, though the yard had no record of the transaction, prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Tracey Arnold said.
On 16 February, Gault ripped copper wiring from the roof of an extensively fire-damaged home that was vacant and secured with Cyclone fencing.
Gault, who was wearing high-vis wear, fled over a neighbouring fence from police.
He was arrested several streets away, telling police he’d been looking for a drink of water at the house.
On 12 October, an unlicenced Gault – who was on a suspended jail sentence at the time – was found by police sleeping in an unregistered BMW with false number plates in Dewhurst.
Inside the car was scrap metal and tools, including a power drill and saw stolen from a City of Casey vehicle in September.
He had also been charged after being found with a pocket-knife inside an abandoned leisure centre in Narre Warren in April, and armed with a 10-centimetre flick knife while riding a bike in May.
Gault’s lawyer said the accused had a long history of drug abuse starting with cannabis use as a 14-year-old, but little treatment.
The accused, who had been homeless and on a $100 daily ice habit, regarded his 35 days in remand custody as a “blessing in disguise”.
It was his first time in custody.
“He can’t remember a time in his adult life but for the last four weeks (in remand custody) when he’s been clean for such a long time.
“He knows this is something he needs to work on for the rest of his life.”
Gault had been hospitalised for weeks due to a serious electric shock at work last year that burned large amounts of his body.
The incident caused Gault depression, flashbacks, financial struggles and “sparked” further drug use, the lawyer said.
Gault was jailed for three months, including 35 days already served in remand custody.
He was also placed on a 12-month treatment-only community order.
