An Avondale man who brazenly molested two teenage girls before stealing their expensive camera has been sentenced to 18 months jail, despite revealing he'd been bashed by fellow inmates while on remand.
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The sisters, aged 16 and 17, had owned the Canon EOS digital camera for less than three hours and were testing it out on the Macquarie Rivulet bike trail near Haywards Bay when Chad Shane John Brooksby approached them on the morning of November 11 last year.
Court documents said Brooksby walked up to the older sister and removed the camera from around her neck without saying a word.
He then used both hands to "pat down" the girl as if searching for valuables, police said.
He put his hands in her back pockets and down her shirt during the frisking, touching her on the bottom and breasts.
He then turned his attention to the younger sister, putting his hands down her top and feeling around her breasts, before placing his hands down her pants and touching her genitals outside her underwear.
The older sister screamed at Brooksby to stop what he was doing.
Brooksby then asked both the teens do you want to suck my d--k?"
The victims ran home and alerted their parents, who contacted police.
Officers used CCTV footage from industrial buildings near the track to identify Brooksby. They also attended a pawn brokers at Dapto the next morning, where the shop owner confirmed Brooksby had pawned the camera for $60.
Brooksby was arrested at Dapto Mall a few hours later.
When interviewed, the 21-year-old claimed to have found the camera on a park bench on the bike trail and took it home.
He was charged with stealing, indecent assault, making a false statement and disposing of stolen property, to which he pleaded guilty.
In Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, defence lawyer Tyrone Phillips said Brooksby suffered from mental health condition and had been heavily under the influence of cannabis at the time of the assault.
He also noted Brooksby had been bashed in jail by "five to six men" after information about his crime was published in the Mercury.
"He received relatively minor injuries but has been in protective custody since then," Mr Phillips said.
Magistrate Michael Stoddart accepted that Brooksby had had a tough time behind bars but showed little sympathy for his plight, saying it was his actions that put him in custody in the first place.
"It's quite disgusting that these ladies who were doing nothing more than enjoying a Sunday with their new camera were subjected to this," he said.
With time served, Brooksby will be released on parole in July 2020.