A man who was "opportunistic" in stealing a washing machine from outside an electrical store in Batemans Bay has faced court for sentencing. Peter Price Cameron from Tomakin was sentenced at Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday, November 27 after pleading guilty to charges of larceny and driving without a licence. The court heard that on October 6, the 40-year-old and a co-accused man parked their Ford Courier utility at the front doors of Harvey Norman in Batemans Bay at about 6.10pm. A washing machine with a "clearance" sign and clearly displayed price sticker reading "$499" had been inadvertently left outside the shop entrance by staff who had all left the shop by that time. The men picked up the machine and loaded it onto the utility. Police were able to identify the two men with CCTV footage of the incident. According to court documents, police went to a Beach Road address the following day where the same vehicle was parked. Police saw Cameron washing the car and asked him about the alleged theft of the washing machine. Cameron led police to the stolen washing machine and helped them load it into the police car to be returned to the shop. Cameron's solicitor Lisa Stone said it was an "opportunistic offence" and that Cameron did not own a washing machine at the time. "When police came they both assisted in lifting the washing machine into the police vehicle," she said, "I would take that as a good sign of remorse". Magistrate Doug Dick said Cameron's actions would cost him a lot more than the value washing machine and that Cameron should not have accepted the machine as being "abandoned". In late September, Cameron was given an infringement notice for driving without a licence and on October 10, he could not provide police with his driver's licence when he was a passenger in the Ford Courier. Cameron, who was completing a community corrections order (CCO) at the time of the offences, was fined $1000 for larceny of the washing machine, $1000 for breaching CCO conditions and $600 for driving without a licence.
