Unanderra man James Willingale jailed for spate of property crimes released to rehabilitate

James Willingale, 38, appeared before Wollongong District Court on Thursday where he was successful in a severity appeal of his two-year prison sentence, which was due to end in 2024.

Willingale was convicted earlier this year after he pleaded guilty to two counts of break and enter dwelling, four counts of recklessly damaging property, four counts of contravene an apprehended domestic violence order, one count of common assault, and one count of possess/attempt to use an offensive weapon to prevent detention.

Court documents showed the offences were committed between August last year and January this year.

Willingale broke into the Kembla Grange Golf Course in August, and took five bottles of bourbon and whiskey valued at $400 in August.

Two days later, he broke into Westside Petroleum service station in Unanderra in the early hours of the morning and stole a block of chocolate and ice cream.

While Judge Andrew Haesler acknowledged the theft was minor, Willingale caused $800 worth of damage at the service station when he broke in by kicking the glass front door open.

Both incidents were caught on CCTV and police found the empty alcohol bottles at a Unanderra address a few days later.

In December, Willingale had become abusive towards a woman known to him, smashing a Dyson vacuum on the floor after she refused to give him money for drugs.

Police were called to remove him from the address, however were warned that Willingale was setting up fishing line around the front yard for them to trip over.

On arrival, police saw the line stretched around the plants and cut it away. When they knocked on the door asking for Willingale, he told them he was armed.

Officers called for extra support, while he stuck his arm outside a slightly open window, holding a kitchen knife and waving it around.

A taser was deployed when he came out of the house.

In court on Thursday, Judge Haesler acknowledged Willingale had been behind bars since January this year for the crimes, and granted him bail to settle into a drug rehabilitation program which would prevent further offending.

"People of Wollongong are not happy when you break into their properties," Judge Haesler said.

"But you have a number of significant problems and you've never really had an opportunity to lead a normal life.

"The challenges that you face with your drug problems and various disabilities will not be helped by spending longer in jail.

"I am indebted to your support workers ... for providing me a report which provides a comprehensive strategy that might help you, and therefore help the community."

Willingale promised to reside at a Port Kembla address, to report to community corrections, to be of good behaviour, to notify the court if he leaves the address and to engage with support services.

Sentence proceedings for the matter were adjourned to September 30 to assess capacity and Willingale's prospects for rehabilitation.

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