A 21-year-old man involved in a group break-in, using an axe and an angle grinder, to steal 46 phones has avoided time behind bars.
In a judgment published last week, acting Justice Peter Berman said Alan Hiribee Malibe, who has an issue with alcohol use, must be "assisted by the court" to rehabilitate himself rather than "focus" on punishing him.
For crimes in 2023, the former rugby league player previously pleaded guilty to joint commission of theft, joint commission of damaging property and two counts of aggravated burglary with intent to steal.
The judge sentenced Malibe to 18 months in jail in the ACT Supreme Court last week, but suspended the sentence on the condition he enter into a two-year good behaviour order.
Malibe, who had no prior convictions, was also ordered to do 120 hours of community service.
In March last year, Malibe and soon-to-be-sentenced co-offender, Louis Shuang, unsuccessfully tried to break into a shop, inside Westfield Belconnen, by prying open its entry glass doors.
They intended to steal electronics but left after seeing cleaners inside the shop. The pair left fingerprints on the glass door and the incident was captured on CCTV.
Three weeks later, they returned to the same shop with another person, this time equipped with an axe and angle grinder. The group kicked the glass door, creating a hole which would eventually cost $8670 to fix, and entered the shop.
Malibe and the others then stole 46 mobile phones collectively worth $14,767.
During sentencing, acting Justice Berman said all the stolen property was recovered without damage but the shop sought reparations for the damaged glass.
"I can understand why [reparations have] been sought ... However, given the offender's financial circumstances and his youth, I have decided not to make the reparation order," acting Justice Berman said.
"Instead, I will order that he perform some community service which will go some way to repaying the community for his wrongdoing even if he is not directly repaying the business which had to pay for the repairs to their premises."
The judge said Malibe, who was ineligible for Centrelink payments due to his citizenship status, attributed his crimes to "financial hardships" his family faced since the pandemic.
The judge also found the offender was "remorseful" for his crimes and noted a reference from Malibe's rugby league team coach which said he was an "honest young man" who had accepted responsibility for making "such a serious mistake".
