A man that stole $70 worth of fuel gets handed a $500 fine

Shane Andrew Smith, of Gwandalan was found guilty in his absence to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception in Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday, May 1.

Court documents say that at 4.33pm on Monday, November 6, 2023 Smith drove a station wagon into Ampol along Erskine Street.

He filled the car with $70 of petrol before driving off and making no attempt to pay for the fuel.

Staff reported the incident to their manager and later to the police.

On Tuesday, November 28 the police visited Ampol and got CCTV footage of the incident.

Police identified the car as being registered to a woman from Gwendalan.

The police handed over the CCTV footage to the Tuggerah Lakes police district in an attempt to identify Smith in the CCTV footage.

At 10.05am on Sunday, January 14, 2024 the Tuggerah Lakes police officers attended a Gwandalan home and spoke with the woman who owned the car.

She told police she had lent the car to a woman known to her and she knew the woman and Smith were using the car together.

When the woman was shown a photograph of Smith captured on CCTV footage, she identified him, however refused to supply the police with an official statement.

On Thursday, February 8, the correctional officers from Parklea Correctional Centre, read a letter of offer to Smith with the opportunity to participate in an interview with police regarding the offence.

Smith told the officers he didn't want to do the interview.

Magistrate Garry Wilson fined Smith $500.