Joel William Heard, 33, pleaded guilty to three charges stemming from the break-ins, at Nelligen Holiday Park and Murramarang Resort in August last year. 

Explaining his offending to Wollongong District Court judge Andrew Haesler on Friday, Heard said he collected almost $5000 from his crimes, enough to pay for his mother’s funeral. “My mum was sitting in a morgue. I had no way to pay for her funeral. No family help. I couldn’t leave my poor mother in there and I couldn’t borrow money from anywhere.” 

Heard grew emotional at the subject, and when giving evidence of the abuse he had suffered as a child. The court heard he had spent much of his adult life in prisons in NSW, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT.

As a consequence of his interstate movements, charges stemming from a 2004 violent home invasion went unanswered, until Friday. Heard expressed his remorse for those crimes, during which he broke into a woman’s Sydney home and fought her for her jewellery box. The woman’s hand was punctured and she suffered scratches and bruises in the struggle. Heard got away by jumping from the first storey, breaking his leg.  

“In 2004 I had a choice, and I shouldn’t have done what I did,” he told the court, adding he had committed the crimes when he was homeless and drug-dependent. “I feel so sorry for the lady that I hurt. If I could take it back I would.” 

Judge Haesler accepted Heard’s sense of obligation towards his mother was genuine, but found “deception is second nature to him”. He noted Heard owed money for his mother’s funeral, but that this had already occurred by the time of the South Coast break-ins. 

“There were elements in what he said today which contradicted things he’d said only minutes before. He is not a credible witness,” Judge Haesler said. “I don’t blame him for that. That much time in jail in my experience is not conducive to being a truthful ... person.” 

“I don’t think he really understands the impact of his crimes. I’m prepared to accept he feels sorry for what he’s done, but he’s never been sorry enough for the harm he’s caused his victims over many, many years to stop doing what he keeps on doing. Because of his background he doesn’t have the resources that most people have, and he has to a significant degree become institutionalised.”

Heard was sentenced to four years, four months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years and three months. He will become eligible for parole on November 29, 2019.