A Wollongong man who entered an apartment and stole a woman's handbag went on to rack up a $600 bill on her credit cards in less than 75 minutes, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Glenn Jason Robinson, 38, pleaded guilty in Wollongong Local Court this week to one count each of aggravated enter dwelling with intent to commit a serious indictable offence and stealing property from a dwelling house.
Agreed facts tendered to the court said the victim returned home to her Hercules Street unit about 6pm on February 26 and put her handbag on the ground in the lounge room.
She told police the bag was still there when she went to bed later that night.
Police said Robinson entered the apartment through an unlocked glass sliding door sometime between 12am and 7am and took the victim's handbag, which contained her sunglasses, a garage remote, the victim's purse and a set of unit keys.
The victim woke up about 7.30 the next morning. Less than half an hour later she received a text message from the Westpac Bank alerting her to a series of unusual transactions on one of her accounts.
She then discovered her handbag was missing and contacted police and each of her banking institutions.
A total of eight unauthorised Paywave transactions were discovered across the victim's two credit cards.
The facts reveal Robinson purchased a meat pie, cigarettes and a Dare Iced Coffee worth $63 at the Fairy Meadow BP Service Station at 7.14am, before heading to Officeworks and buying a mobile phone and memory card for $95.
He bought another mobile phone and Telstra phone credit in two separate transactions at the Wollongong Caltex at 7.42am.
Robinson then entered the Wollongong CBD, purchasing $76 worth of goods from the Keira Street Newsagency at 8am and a third mobile phone and more phone credit from Woolworths 12 minutes later. Robinson's last two transactions, both around $75 each, occurred at the Coles Express and the Express convenience store.
Robinson's total bill came to $600.
He was arrested at at a unit on Crown Street later that morning.
Robinson admitted to his crimes during an interview with police, saying he'd taken the victim's wallet from inside the house and used her credit card for "smokes and stuff".
When asked why he'd made the purchases, Robinson replied "to pay for my addiction basically, yeah, like smokes and like, you know, something easy to get rid of to swap for drugs".
Robinson remains in custody and will face Wollongong District Court in October for a sentencing date to be set.
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.