A moment of monkey business has landed a man with a year of community service for stealing a gorilla statue from a retirement village.
Matthew Newbould last month pleaded guilty to stealing the 20kg garden ornament named Garry from a retirement village at St Helena in Melbourne’s north-east on June 6.
Newbould was also disqualified from driving at the time after losing his licence in July last year.
Magistrate Michael Wighton convicted Newbould for theft and driving disqualified, sentencing him to 100 hours of unpaid community work over 12 months.
Wighton noted Newbould had already served jail time over more serious charges, and had previously breached a court order.
“You’re still getting yourself into trouble for pretty silly things,” Wighton said.
“I mean really, really stupid decision making, like stealing things like the gorilla, land you in pretty serious trouble.”
Newbould had spotted Garry the gorilla statue at the retirement village while buying a chest of drawers with a friend.
He then grabbed the statue and loaded it onto a ute hired from Bunnings.
An onlooker called police after spotting Garry perched in the vehicle’s tray.
Victoria Police’s Air Wing helped locate the 1.5m statue in a backyard.
Newbould was arrested on July 5 and a search of his phone revealed text messages to friends, including one that said: “LOL I stole a gorilla, so what?”
Wighton considered Newbould’s mental health issues and substance abuse struggles in his decision, and opted not to extend the offender’s driving ban, which had almost three years remaining.
“If you breach the order through further offending or through not complying with the order, then you can be returned to court and re-sentenced,” the magistrate said.
In early July, police returned Garry the gorilla to the Leith Park retirement village where he has lived peacefully ever since.
