Man broke into Bunbury home brandishing crowbar to steal $3000 worth of vapes from sleeping 61-year-old

One of the men who broke into the Bunbury home of a sleeping 61-year-old man in a bid to steal $3000 worth of vapes while disguised as a clown, brandished a crowbar to threaten the victim. Thomas Matthew Bingham, 35, was sentenced to four years jail in the Perth District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated armed robbery on September 21, 2023. On that date about 1.30pm, the 61-year-old man was in his home sleeping when Bingham and his co-accused entered through the front door wearing a disguise that was at least a large yellow hat with some materials suggesting it also included a clown mask. The two men were motivated by the knowledge high-value vapes were kept inside the home, valued up to $3000, with Bingham standing to gain $1000 from the theft. Armed with a crowbar, while his co-accused brandished a baseball bat, Bingham fended off the victim while the other person grabbed a tub of vapes and fled. District Court judge Craig Astill said Bingham tried to stop the victim from chasing the vapes by swinging the crowbar in his direction. “You tell me that all you were intending to do was threaten him with the crowbar in order to prevent him from taking any further steps,” Mr Astill said. “I have no doubt, Mr Bingham, that if he had taken further steps, that things might have escalated considerably and, at the end of the day, you were the one that was almost half his age and was armed with a crowbar. “When you go into someone’s house armed with a crowbar, expecting that there may be some level of resistance, it demonstrates that you are prepared, if necessary, to use the crowbar to prevent that resistance.” The two people fled in a getaway car, which the victim chased in an attempt to retrieve the vapes, but the car stopped and Bingham and his co-accused again threatened him with the weapons before he retreated. Bingham was arrested a week later with some, but not all, of the vapes recovered. The court was told Bingham initially lied about his involvement. The 35-year-old has an 11-page recorded spanning his entire adult life with a drug addiction and mental health issues also present. However, Mr Astill said Bingham had been a productive member of society, running his own marine mechanic business for some time. But, life’s setbacks saw him regularly relapse into drug use, with this offending financially motivated. Mr Astill said a victim impact statement said the man now suffered from anxiety and felt unsafe in his home. “He was someone who was entitled to feel safe in his house. You made it very clear that he was not safe,” Mr Astill said. “Unfortunately the illusion of safety that comes from a home can be very easily shattered by someone such as yourself doing what you did, and at 61, when he is confronted by two men brandishing weapons, wearing clown masks, clearly he wasn’t going to be someone who could physically defend himself against you and your co-offender. “Your drug addiction remains unaddressed. You do present as a risk of re-offending, and this means that you are someone from whom the community needs to be protected.” Bingham was sentenced to four years behind bars, with the term backdated to December 18 to account for some time already spent in custody. He was made eligible for parole and received a 25 per cent discount on his sentence for an early plea of guilty.