A Hungry Jack's manager who used inside knowledge of his building's security system to pull off a $14,000 cigarette heist has been sentenced to three years in jail.
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Mark Thomas Garvin, 27, was finishing up work at the Fyshwick Hungry Jack's in June 2011, when he told other staff to go home, promising to close up the store.
Garvin - who was still on a good behaviour order for an armed robbery at the time - activated the store's security alarm about 8.55pm. But he never left.
Instead, Garvin walked into a storeroom used by both Hungry Jack's and an adjacent Coles Express service station, which shares the Wollongong Street building. He pulled up a wire mesh that divided the storerooms of the two businesses, and used black tape to cover a Coles Express alarm sensor.
Garvin then walked to the service station's cigarette safe, which was either unlocked or left open, and stole $14,500 worth of cigarettes.
The ACT Supreme Court has still not been able to work out how Garvin got the large number of cigarettes out of the store. It found that Garvin remained in the store overnight, until about 5am, when he deactivated the security system.
Garvin later admitted to a colleague that he had committed the burglary and theft.
He was found guilty by a jury in the ACT Supreme Court earlier this year, after a trial involving 29 witnesses and 24 exhibits over four days.
But Garvin still denies he was responsible for the crime, and is planning to appeal his conviction.
He had an alibi for the night in question, denied making a confession, and said he was selling his father's duty-free cigarettes, which he had stolen from a cupboard at home.
Justice John Nield said he was not surprised by the jury's verdict, and said the prosecution had a strong case, which was confirmed by evidence of Garvin's admission and his selling of cigarettes to co-workers.
Justice Nield said the 27-year-old's knowledge of the building and its security system had allowed him to commit the crime.
The court heard that Garvin had a loving and supportive upbringing, but that he went ''off the rails, so to speak'', when his grandmother died in 2006.
He had abused alcohol and cannabis from his late teens to his early 20s, but stopped when he was arrested for armed robbery.
Justice Nield sentenced Garvin to three years in jail. He will be eligible for parole on April 8, 2015.
