WAGGA police have suggested that people angry over the perceived light sentencing of the ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ couple write to the Attorney-General or the member for Wagga to vent their frustrations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In Wagga District Court last Wednesday, 33-year-old John Douglas Johnson and 25-year-old Sarah Niki were given suspended jail sentences after pleading guilty to recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Police found hundreds of stolen items in the couple’s Ashmont house during a raid about 12 months ago and said there was so much stolen property stored in the house a small child was forced to sleep in front of the television.
The Wagga Local Area Command gave details of the case and its outcome on Facebook after Johnson and Niki were sentenced.
“Police spent three months on this investigation and identified over 100 victims of break and enters, both here in Wagga and from other areas as far as Newcastle,” the post said.
More than 80 people so far have commented on the post, including Joanna Barnes, who wrote on the page: “What can we do as concerned citizens to help you get proper sentences for these criminals surely we can complain to someone maybe a petition but to who I am willing to do anything to help wagga police just not fair.”
Police responded by telling Ms Barnes if she felt strongly about the subject she could always write to the Attorney-General or member for Wagga, Daryl Maguire.
Most people were upset the couple were not given full-time jail, with some calling the suspended sentences a joke, while one described it as a kick in the teeth for police and the victims.
Mr Maguire has not yet received a formal complaint about the sentences.
In sentencing Johnson and Niki, Judge Gordon Lerve gave them both the standard 25 per cent discount for early guilty pleas.
With Johnson, the judge also took into account more than three months in custody on remand and in drug rehabilitation after his arrest.
Judge Lerve also lessened the sentence because of Johnson’s deprived upbringing under two legal principles known as Bugmy and Fernando which are applied to some indigenous people.
With Niki, Judge Lerve accepted her criminality was less than Johnson’s, she was younger and her criminal record was not as bad.
If either breaches the good behaviour conditions of their suspended sentences they can be re-sentenced to full-time custody.