A man has confessed to breaking into a home at Mt Warrigal in the dead of night and stealing a woman's car, which he used to ferry himself around for several days before dumping the vehicle at Lake Illawarra.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Joshua Chapman-Bryan committed the crime on the evening of February 15 this year, just 24 hours after he stole a credit card from another household.
Armed with both transport and access to a bank account, Chapman-Bryan spent the day of February 16 travelling between Nowra and Wollongong, using the stolen credit card to fund his trip.
A set of agreed facts tendered to Wollongong Local Court this week said Chapman-Bryan was at a home in Albion Park with friends on Valentine's Day when he saw the bank card on the kitchen bench and swiped it.
The following evening, Chapman-Bryan broke into a home in Mt Warrigal and picked up a set of Mitsubishi Triton car keys he found on a table in the living room, making off with the vehicle under the cover of darkness.
The vehicle's owner discovered the theft at 5 o'clock the next morning and contacted police.
The facts said there were no signs of forced entry to the front door or any other part of the house.
Meanwhile, Chapman-Bryan drove the vehicle to Bomaderry that night where he pulled into a service station on Bolong Road and filled up the car with 59 litres of petrol.
He then drove off at speed without paying for the fuel.
Later that morning, Chapman-Bryan used the stolen credit card to purchase McDonalds at Nowra, then more food and petrol (which he paid for this time) at the BP Service Station at Warrawong.
He then headed to a tobacconist at Berkeley where he bought a packet of cigarettes, and later to Coles, where he and a female friend were seen on CCTV cameras purchasing $49 worth of groceries, including a packet of tampons, cheese, hot twiggy sticks, a chicken ceasar salad bowl, choc-chip biscuits, a mango, male and female body spray and a greeting card.
The owner of the credit card discovered the fraudulent transactions on her account the following day, prompting her to cancel her card and contact police.
Meanwhile, police found the stolen car on February 27 in Anthony Street in Lake Illawarra. It had been locked, secured and abandoned.
Chapman-Bryan was arrested the following day and charged. He made full admissions to each of the offences when interviewed.
In court this week, he formally entered guilty pleas to an aggravated break and enter charge and two stealing offences.
Chapman-Bryan remains on conditional bail and will face Wollongong District Court on October 30 when a date will be set for his sentencing.
Sign up for breaking news emails below ...
