Patrick Michael Tate, 41, has been sentenced by the ACT Supreme Court. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A serial thief has been handed a drug rehabilitation order for numerous crimes, including stealing nearly $50,000-worth of jewellery.
Patrick Michael Tate committed five thefts across Canberra between February and September 2024. This included stealing a $1000 PlayStation 5 from Big W in Woden Westfield, nine sets of earphones worth $4000 from JB-HiFi in Fyshwick and items worth $2000 from the BCF store in Fyshwick.
Also, he burgled the Telstra store in Civic, stealing six Samsung Galaxy watches worth over $4000.
He committed a robbery in October 2024 when he went into McGlades Jewellers in Civic, asked to try on watches before fleeing the store with one worth $4700, knocking over a staff member as he did so. When a bystander tried to stop him, he punched the man in the head.
About two weeks later, he used a screwdriver to help him steal 19 pieces of jewellery from the Angus & Coote store in Woden Westfield worth over $47,000.
He handed himself in to the police that same month and has remained in custody since then.
A few days after going to the police, he told them, “The jewellery store next to Big W, just the other day, I took all the gold from that. I know I did that”.
The items he stole were never recovered.
Tate, a 41-year-old father of one who has worked in construction, pleaded guilty to single counts of robbery and burglary as well as six counts of theft.
His motivation for all offences was personal gain, with the underlying factors of drug use and financial stress, Justice Verity McWilliam of the ACT Supreme Court wrote in her decision from last week.
She said he had been on a nine-month suspended sentence at the time of the offences, so she imposed this jail term, which was backdated to account for time served.
Justice McWilliam said Tate had endured a difficult childhood and had been affected by illicit substances at the time.
“Drug addiction is a key feature underlying the totality of the conduct for which the offender is being sentenced,” she said.
“It has fed maladaptive coping strategies that have now become a compulsion in repeated shoplifting, a matter that was accepted by the offender.”
Justice McWilliam said it was appropriate to hand Tate a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Order, which is a community-based sentence.
He was convicted and sentenced to a total of three-and-a-half years’ jail to be served by a drug treatment order starting from 28 July, which meant he was released from custody that date.
As part of this order, he must complete a drug rehabilitation course.
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