Burglar threatened to 'smash' a child's jaw during car park altercation

After threatening a stranger in the car park of a busy shopping centre, a young man embarked on a burglary spree across Canberra.

According to court documents, Stanley William King and his co-defendant were sitting in their Nissan Pulsar in front of the Capital Chemist at O’Connor at about 6 pm on 17 December 2018.

The co-defendant had her door open, touching the car next to it, a Volkswagen Passat.

The Passat’s owner and her daughter came back from the nearby IGA, put shopping in the car then saw the co-defendant’s door was still touching the Passat.

The mother asked the co-defendant to move her door, to which she replied: “We can do whatever the f-k we want.” She then slammed her door into the Passat.

When the mother asked her daughter to take a photo of the pair, King got out and said: “If she does that, I will f-king smash her jaw in”.

He was told if he hit her then he’d go to jail, to which he replied: “Well, I just came out of jail, so I can go back in.”

Another woman came out of the chemist on the phone to the police, so the co-defendant threw a drink over this woman’s face.

King then embarked on a string of crimes in January 2019. He was tied to a Subaru Forrester that was stolen from Cook and set on fire as his fingerprints and blood were found inside it, then on 16 January 2019 he committed three burglaries.

When a resident returned to his ransacked house in Cook, where multiple stolen items included a powder fire extinguisher, he saw a pair of black shoes that did not belong to him or anyone else that lived there. Police matched DNA found in these shoes to King.

King’s dried blood was found on the bedroom wall of a ransacked home in Coombs. He also burgled a home in Page and his fingerprints were found on a flat-screen television.

When King was arrested later that day he had a duffle bag with him that contained several items stolen from a home in Wright, including cash, a digital camera, perfume, a purse, makeup and jewellery.

On Thursday (23 September), Magistrate James Lawton said the charges were old because the 24-year-old had “unfortunately” offended in NSW and been handed a “significant sentence” of three-and-a-half years in jail in late 2019.

His non-parole period for that sentence ended in July. He was granted parole then transferred to the ACT to face these offences.

While Magistrate Lawton said King and his co-offender had attacked members of the public outside the Capital Chemist “for no apparent good reason”, he noted King was making attempts to rehabilitate himself.

King, who once lived in Kambah, pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, affray, possessing stolen property as well as driving-related charges.

He was sentenced to a total of nine months in jail, suspended for a 12-month good behaviour order, and disqualified from driving for 12 months.