Man avoids jail for robbing, damaging store

A Bidyadanga man has avoided jail over causing $50,000 in damage to the community store he tried to flee from after stealing $10,000 worth of food and cigarettes. Corizma Winston Butt, 18, was convicted in the Broome Magistrates Court last Monday for an aggravated burglary at the Bardi-Ardiyaloon store in One Arm Point, on the Dampier Peninsula, in December last year. The court heard Butt was in the company of other young offenders when the group broke into the store in the early hours of December 10, disguised with a T-shirt over his face. The group rummaged through shelves and grabbed various food items before breaking into the store’s office and stole various packets of cigarettes. However, the group were caught by the community’s CEO, the store manager and night patrol security and were detained in the store while they waited for police to arrive. The group tried to escape by attempting to break a hole into the roof, causing approximately $50,000 damage, but failed and were arrested by police. The court also heard Butt’s involvement in the aggravated burglary found him in breach of the 13 community based orders he was placed on in August last year. It was also noted Butt had an extensive history of burglaries and breaches of bail in a short period of time, stemming from when he relocated to the Kimberley after finishing school in Perth. Butt was handed a suspended prison sentence of seven months and placed on a new community based order for 12 months that required him to complete at least 50 hours of community service. Magistrate Elizabeth Langdon told Butt he was “extremely lucky” to have been on the previous community based orders. “Just because you’re young does not mean you can’t go to jail,” she said. “You ought to have known better than to rob that store, especially when you were the elder of that group and you have led those kids astray. “You need to get serious about this new community based order because someone in your shoes ought to expect jail.”