Woman jailed over gun theft

A Geraldton woman has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of aggravated burglary.

The jury reached a unanimous verdict in the District Court at Geraldton earlier this month.

On March 11 last year Rebecca Rose Criddle, along with at least two other friends, drove down Brand Highway and turned off to a property that one of them had previously worked at.

During this time the property’s owner was in hospital, and Judge Christopher Stevenson said in his sentencing comments that Criddle had known this and had returned to the property for the “sole and specific purpose” of taking guns from the house.

The house was occupied by the owner’s wife, who suffered a hearing condition, and one other man — a Mr Richardson.

On arriving at the house, Criddle and a female friend got out of the vehicle and called out to see if anyone was home.

Mr Richardson came out to investigate the noise and Criddle told him their car had broken down and they would need water to get it going again.

Mr Richardson got them a container of water, and offered to help fix the vehicle, but Criddle said their father was in the car and he would be able to help them.

While Mr Richardson went to go retrieve a head lamp, intending to help despite Criddle’s suggestion they would be fine, he heard a noise and saw a male he had previously worked with carrying three guns and leaving the house.

Judge Stevenson said the burglar had known exactly where in the house the gun cabinet and key were.

He said Criddle’s suggestion that she did not see the guns until she looked on the back seat after the group had driven off was “fanciful stuff”.

“You returned to the vehicle and left using back roads, contemplating that Mr Richardson would call the police, which he did.”

Criddle had been drinking at the time of the offence and had left behind a Vodka Cruiser bottle which police were able to find her DNA on, through what Judge Stevenson called “great police work.”

Although Judge Stevenson acknowledged Criddle did not take the guns herself, only her assistance in the burglary needed to be proven for her to be found guilty.

“You are an accomplished liar, and you continued to lie to the jury,” he said.

“Your role was integral to the offence.

“It was an inside job. The property is remote, it’s isolated and the place is not visible from the Brand Highway.

“You came unannounced at midnight, and in those circumstances there was a risk that something much worse could’ve happened — where Mr Richardson did the right thing to help you out.”

The prosecutor said the victims’ lifestyle had been forced to change significantly, as they hadn’t thought it necessary to lock up their rural property in the past 20 years of living there, and they were unable to afford to replace the guns which were necessary for pest control on the farm.

The three-year sentence was back-dated to September 2, 2015, to be served partly concurrently with a sentence for charges which Criddle was on bail for at the time of the offence.