The DNA of a man caught by police for breaking into a Forrestfield house and stealing its contents has been used to tie him to an historic burglary in Byford.
Tommy Lee Scott appeared before the Armadale Magistrates Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to a slew of charges including the 2019 theft of alcohol from the SJ Blues Cricket Club.
On July 9, Mr Scott and an unknown accomplice removed their shoes before walking into a house in Forrestfield and taking $10,000 worth of household items, including a Nintendo console, vacuum cleaner and jewellery.
The pair damaged a security camera in an attempt to conceal their identities.
They also stole a white Toyota Corolla which they later dumped after damaging it.
Mr Scott’s lawyers said he had made a “split-second, stupid” decision to rob the house. She said he had been “very intoxicated” at the time and the front and garage doors to the property had been left open, with all lights on.
During an August search warrant on Mr Scott’s residence, police discovered some of the stolen items, to which Mr Scott replied: “I don’t know what they’re doing there”.
Through forensic analysis of the Forrestfield burglary, the police were able to tie Tommy Lee Scott’s DNA to evidence they’d collected from a burglary at the SJ Blues Cricket Club in Briggs Park on March 14, 2019.
Nearly $1500 worth of alcohol was taken from the club.
Mr Scott was 19 at the time of the first offence. His lawyer explained that he and his friends had been drinking heavily when one suggested they break into the club and steal the alcohol.
She said that Mr Scott – now 24-years-old – had since realised that alcohol was a “weak point” of his.
She said he was now in full-time employment, had taken up sports again, and had engaged in therapy sessions to unpack trauma from his childhood which had previously led him to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs.
She explained that Tommy Lee Scott’s childhood was “riddled with domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse”, but that he had seen his parents “turn their lives around and realised he could do the same”.
During sentencing Magistrate Anthony Sullivan noted Mr Scott’s early pleas, despite “getting away with” the Byford burglary from 2019 to 2023 when he was caught, and also his prior good character and positive work history.
He concluded that a term of imprisonment was “appropriate”, but felt a suspension was justified.
Tommy Lee Scott was given concurrent sentences totalling one year in prison, suspended for a term of 15 months, and fined for minor drug offences.
