Tyson Little was sentenced at Wagga Wagga Courthouse. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A Griffith-raised man who lived in Ashmont has been sentenced to a five-year jail term after pleading guilty to several breaking-and-entering offences, as well as stealing and related crimes.
According to the published judgment, Tyson Little, 28, entered or broke into nine properties with two juvenile co-offenders in the space of just under three houses, in what Judge Gordon Lerve described as a “crime spree” in the early hours of 12 December, 2023.
The trio travelled within a radius of about 21 kilometres on a crime sequence that appears to have started at Gobbagombalin at 3:35 am and finished at Kapooka at 6:22 am.
Little is now in custody and will be eligible for parole on 20 August, 2027. His two co-offenders, who cannot be named due to their young age, will spend up to 19 months and 16 months in a Youth Justice Centre respectively.
The spree started when Little and the co-offenders jumped a fence to enter the backyard of a house at Gobbagombalin. The residents of the home were inside but asleep at the time.
CCTV footage shows the co-accused people removing a fly screen from the window and obtaining a handbag from inside the premises, which included keys to a Subaru, which was driven from the premises.
The trio then broke into two houses in Lake Albert, taking a Mazda BT 50 vehicle and Yamaha motorbike from the second premises. They travelled to a third house in Lake Albert and took a Toyota Corolla while the owner slept.
Little and his two companions then drove to a house in Mount Austin. When they broke in, the home occupant called out “Hey!” when she heard a noise. The offenders left without taking anything.
The trio then travelled to San Isidore, where they broke into several houses, but struggled to find anything to take. Little and the two young co-offenders concluded the crime spree by driving to an address in Glenfield Park where they dumped the cars and left the area.
Little was arrested two months later when police found him hiding in a house in Ashmont. He was immediately placed into custody.
Judge Lerve said Little had a considerable criminal history, including for matters related to a sexual assault and other serious domestic violence. He was on parole at the time of the break-and-enter offences.
“The offender has a record that does not entitle him to any particular leniency,” Judge Lerve said.
However, the judge did consider his difficult childhood and upbringing in Griffith.
“His father was convicted and sentenced in respect of the homicide [manslaughter] of a young infant and was subsequently deported back to Papua New Guinea,” Judge Lerve noted.
Little said he was flogged by family members and bullied and bashed as a child.
At the age of 13, he sustained a traumatic brain injury when he fell from a school roof.
According to a doctor’s report, he had learning difficulties growing up but did not have an intellectual disability.
The judge decided that Little’s troubled upbringing and in particular his exposure to violence reduced his “moral culpability” for the crimes.
According to a Sentence Assessment Report, there is a high risk that Little will reoffend.
Judge Lerve recommended that Little be released from jail on 20 August, 2027, and remain on parole for the next two years.
