A Wagga judge has dismissed a Gundagai man’s appeal after he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ jail for stealing from rural properties.
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Brett William Smith, 40, was jailed in June when he committed a series of larcenies on rural properties around the region.
In doing so, he breached a good behaviour bond for another larceny imposed just one week earlier.
In Wagga District Court, defence solicitor Maria Wallis argued the jail term was too harsh given the value of the items Smith stole from the properties in Adaminaby, Maragle, and Shannons Flat.
“Looking at the objective gravity of the offending before the court, the penalty imposed is not appropriate,” Ms Wallis said.
However, Judge Gordon Lerve ultimately disagreed, noting that the circumstances of Smith’s offending needed to be more closely considered.
“One factor that neither representative has addressed is that these offences were committed in isolated rural areas,” he said.
Judge Lerve said that meant Smith’s offending fell into a worrying trend of rural crime on which the courts needed to maintain a firm stance.
“Rural crime often involves people like this offender going to isolated properties and simply taking things suspecting there is nobody home and suspecting they will never be detected,” he said.
“It is for that reason that, when these matters are detected, there is the very real need for general deterrence to be addressed.”
Smith’s non-parole period will expire next December.
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