Man who stole over $7,500 worth of booze and then passed out jailed for one month

A man found passed out on the footpath after stealing thousands of dollars worth of beer and spirits from a restaurant in Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory has been sentenced to one month in prison. On Monday night Warren Argall, 44, and another man broke into the Char restaurant cool room, got drunk and then filled a wheelie bin with bottles and cans of stolen alcohol.

When police woke Argall on the adjacent footpath the next morning, surrounded by bottles and empty cans, he said he could not remember anything that had happened that night. The wheelie bin was nearby. The two men stole 151 bottles of spirits and 216 stubbies of beer valued at AU$7,507 (£3,950, US$6,150), the court heard. He appeared before the Darwin Magistrates Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to all charges.



CCTV footage showed Argall and another man entered the property at about 11:00pm on December 29 through an unlocked rear gate and forced the door on the cool room. CCTV then showed them drinking stolen beer on the restaurant's step, the court heard. After the pair left the property with their wheelie bin haul of booze several other men then took advantage of the open premises and helped themselves, the court heard. Argall and the other man also returned several times to pick up more beer.

The group of men, including Argall, entered the property at least eight times in eight hours, from 11:00pm to 7:05am, when police found Argall sleeping outside. The upmarket waterfront restaurant had been closed for renovations and its stock of beer and spirits had been stored in the locked cool room. A bag containing the ID of the other man who allegedly broke into the cool room was also found on the restaurant's grounds. He was arrested a short time later.