A PORT Fairy man who claims he took a flat-packed shed he thought was rubbish is now $1500 out of pocket.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gerard Conlan, 48, of Princes Highway, appeared in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court for another contest mention hearing charged with theft on Monday and entered a guilty plea.
He was convicted and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond with the conditions he pay $750 to the court fund and $750 in compensation.
Police said that 7pm on October 3 last year Conlan drove his white Holden Jackaroo and a trailer to a Coghlans Road business in Warrnambool where he removed a six metre by eight metre shed.
The Colorbond shed, valued at $5700, was packed on a pallet and secured with metal ties.
It was about 20 metres off the road and the area was under the surveillance of a security camera.
Conlan cut the metal ties and loaded the shed onto his trailer.
At one stage he looked directly into the security camera for about 20 seconds.
The shed was later returned but significantly damaged.
When police talked to him, Conlan denied stealing the shed, saying he thought it was rubbish.
He said he returned it undamaged.
"It's not theft as far as I'm concerned. I've made an honest mistake, obviously," he told police.
Conlan told magistrate Ron Saines he picked up things people were throwing away.
He said two years before taking the shed he went to a nearby business looking for a 1000 litre container.
He said he was told he could take items which were being thrown out.
Conlan said the only way he could lift the pieces of the shed were to cut the metal pallet ties.
"It was not locked. It's in the same area where the bins are," he said.
The magistrate told Conlan the question at the heart of the matter was whether the accused believed the shed was abandoned and/or rubbish.
Mr Saines said the shed was stored on private property and it was tied up.
Defence counsel Adam Bellman said the material contained significant rust and his client was going to use it on another shed by cutting it to size.
He said Conlan thought the material was scrap metal, that anything in that area was for disposal and he was free to take it.