A MOUNT Gambier man will spend more than a year in prison for committing a “brazen” home invasion in the heart of the city in broad daylight, which ended in a citizen’s arrest.
Jeremy Edward Climas, 20, appeared via video-link in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court to be sentenced for various trespass charges, which also breached a suspended sentence bond.
The prosecution said the owner of a property in the city was at his father’s house at around 2.30pm on May 10 when he noticed strange behaviour at his premises a short distance away.
When he attended at his home, a car reversed out of his driveway and drove away.
The victim suspected something was going on inside the house and when he looked through the windows, he noticed the interior of his house was in disarray.
Holding an umbrella, the victim knocked on the main door of his own home and Climas answered.
When the defendant realised he had opened the door to the home-owner, he ran to the other end of the house.
The victim executed a citizen’s arrest, before dragging the defendant outside the property.
The court heard Climas became emotional and said he had been “hanging out with the wrong crowd” when under the victim’s restraint.
A short time later, the co-accused exited the house and Climas yelled out to him for help.
When the co-accused assisted and became involved in an altercation with the victim, Climas fled the scene.
During the altercations, the victim managed to phone police, who arrived at the property a short time later.
The victim gave police a description of Climas and he was located nearby before surrendering himself to officers without incident.
The defendant’s lawyer said his client went along with two other people to the property to repay a drug debt.
He also claimed Climas was only acting as a “lookout” during the invasion and theft.
Magistrate Teresa Anderson said she was not willing to accept the explanation due to statements suggesting Climas had a bottle of gin from the property in his pocket.
A victim impact statement was also read to the court, which outlined the stress endured during and following the incident.
“Safety of the community demands that a term of imprisonment be imposed,” Magistrate Anderson said.
Climas was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment for the fresh offending and a suspended sentence bond of six months and three weeks was revoked.
A non-parole period of 13 months was set on the head sentence of 27 months and three weeks.
The sentence was backdated to start on May 10.
