Two teenagers have been recorded trying to use "Pig Latin" to disguise a conversation about an Apple store burglary, which landed them more then $60,000 worth of iPhones and headphones.
Harrison Frank Clissold faced the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, when he spent much of his sentence hearing sitting in a visibly unsettled fashion.
The 19-year-old previously pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and theft.
He and a co-offender, who cannot be named as he was a minor at the time of the offending, stole 29 iPhones, nine Air Pods headphones and 10 Beats headphones on January 19, 2022.
"What's happening with your ial-ay tr-ay?" the co-offender asked on a recorded phone conversation while the teenager was remanded at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.
"The what? I can't hear you," Clissold responded.
"The trial. The trial. What's happening with your trial?" the offender asked.
Agreed facts state the pair were recorded loitering outside the Canberra Centre entrance about 3.35am, just two weeks after Clissold turned 18.
His then 17-year-old co-offender smashed the right-side entrance to the shopping centre using a hammer but was unable to enter through the hole.
He managed to gain entry by smashing a hole into the left-side window and reaching through to press the exit button on the inside, opening up the sliding doors.
The co-offender then smashed through the Apple store's front glass entrance and entered a rear stock area before triggering an alarm, causing him to flee.
About 30 minutes later, Clissold and the co-offender entered the Apple store and the younger of the pair used the hammer to access a locked storeroom.
They filled five bags with products totalling $60,791 before exiting the store, when they were confronted by a Canberra Centre security guard.
The two teenagers ran away, with one bag being dropped during the chase, before they escaped out the centre's front entry.
Police evidence later showed Clissold's mobile service, the number for which he had provided checking into a Barton hotel the previous night, was in the vicinity of Glebe Park during the offending, near the Canberra Centre.
Fingerprints found at the scene of the crime also matched both offenders.
Discussing the incident over the recorded prison phone conversation, Clissold would again be confused by the co-offender's "use of 'Pig Latin' by way of code".
The co-offender tried to ask if Clissold had been "wearing the thing that starts with G", likely referring to gloves.
They also questioned what evidence police had found.
"They say, um, there's DNA and like fingerprints and all that like on like some of the handles in the Apple store and shit," Clissold said.
"Nah, I reckon that's cap [lying]," the co-offender responded.
Prosecutor Chamil Wanigaratne said Clissold had failed to show real insight into his "not overly sophisticated" offending, which the court heard the man did not recollect due to being intoxicated.
The prosecutor said Clissold tried "to shift some of the responsibility for his offending to his inebriated state".
"These sorts of offences, the prevalence of them in the community, create an enormous burden," Mr Wanigaratne said.
However, the court heard the offender deserved credit for guilty pleas that were entered in the Magistrates Court and demonstrated "a degree of remorse and contrition".
The prosecutor said the need for general deterrence, denunciation and community protection were important factors in sentencing the "quick buck" crime.
Defence barrister James Maher described the incident as a "smash and grab operation".
He addressed the court's concerns about his client's rehabilitation prospects, acknowledging Clissold "does appear to be disengaged".
But Mr Maher said the offender was a "man of very few words" and factors like full-time employment and family support would play key parts in his rehabilitation if handed a community-based sentence.
In his submissions, the barrister also said Clissold's co-offender had been the "leading hand" in the burglary, which affected a multinational technology company, "not a mum and dad operation".
Clissold's co-offender was sentenced last year to a 22-month prison sentence, which was suspended after nine months, for this and earlier offending.
Justice Belinda Baker reserved her decision in the "difficult sentencing exercise" until an undecided date.
