Alex Rohan Hume: Man stole more than $1000 worth of alcohol during ‘grief spree’ barred from bottle shops

A Bunbury man who had been barred from entering licensed venues stole more than $1000 worth of alcohol from South West bottle shops during a “spree” while grieving the death of his uncle. Alex Rohan Hume, 32, appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to a string of charges, including 11 counts of failing to comply with a prohibition order and 16 counts of stealing. The court was told Hume entered multiple liquor stores across the Greater Bunbury area in November, stealing alcohol worth between $44 and $186 on each occasion. On November 14, Hume went into the Jaycar Electronics Bunbury store, fleeing with two drones, a speaker and a trail camera worth $1076, before returning two days later to steal another $518 worth of electronics. On November 18, Hume rode to a home in South Bunbury, threw his bike on the ground and walked up to the front door. However, after noticing CCTV cameras he turned around and left, but not before stealing a pair of shoes from the porch. During this theft spree, the court was told Hume also stole two phones, one from Big W Bunbury and the other from Harvey Norman Bunbury. On both occasions he asked a staff member to show him the items before fleeing with them. Police saw Hume on November 23 in Carey Park, riding a mountain bike he admitted to have stolen or unlawfully obtained. The November offences breached a conditionally suspended jail term Hume had been placed on for prior other offending. Despite having a lawyer represent him, Hume told the court himself he was sorry for the offending, saying it had been “hard to process the grief and the loss” of his uncle passing away. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done,” he said. “I didn’t mean any harm to anyone. I found it pretty hard.” The court was told Hume had a past history of substance abuse but had stayed out of trouble since attending Goldfields Rehabilitation Services and later securing a fly-in, fly-out job. However, his lawyer said Hume had negative peer associations who were “actively” working to “drag” him down, keeping him in a “drug and alcohol lifestyle”. For two of the stealing offences Hume was sentenced to two months behind bars, and will need to serve 10 months on the conditionally suspended order which was breached. He was fined $2000 for the remaining new offences, but because of totality reasons the magistrate said these would be “cut out” while Hume was in custody. The magistrate granted the application for reparations to be paid, but acknowledged the targeted businesses would be unlikely to receive the funds. “The repeated nature of the offending, it could really be described as a spree,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to pay that money (for reparations) and that is understood.” Hume had already served more than six weeks in custody and was made eligible for parole.