Man stole $4000 of horse equipment from Bushfield to fund drug habit

Andrew Gill, 32, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday to burglary and theft.

He and co-accused Cory Cookson, 32, attended a private and locked storage unit at Bushfield's McKenzies Road between April 23 and 24 last year.

They broke a window to get inside and then stole over $4000 worth of equine equipment, including saddles and rugs.

A glove, worn by Gill in an attempt to avoid leaving his DNA at the property, was found at the scene.

The two men were arrested on June 24 at a property in Illabarook, south-west of Ballarat.

Police then raided a house in Dennington's Bayne Street and located a small number of the stolen items.

A family member of Gill lived at that address.

At the time of the offending he was on a community correction order for burglary-related offending, the court heard.

Lawyer Ian Pugh, representing Gill, said his client intended to sell the stolen items for drug money.

He said Gill had a "huge issue" with the drug ice and understood he needed to engage with the therapeutic conditions of his correction order.

Mr Pugh said at the time of his arrest Gill was cooperative with police.

But police prosecutor Senior Constable Greg Kew said that was only because Gill's DNA was found on the glove he dropped at the scene.

"He was caught red-handed," he said.

"This was premeditated offending."

Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge gave Gill another go on a correction order but said if it was breached, he would be jailed for four months.

Gill was placed on a 15-month correction order with 180 hours of unpaid community.

Co-accused Cookson pleaded guilty to similar offending in November last year and was also placed on a community correction order for 15 months.

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