Man fined for 'pointless' conduct

A MAN has been handed a suspended sentence in the hope it will put the brakes on his offending.

Ethan Wade Jasperse, 20, pleaded guilty to a string of offences in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Tuesday after police stopped him riding a stolen motorbike.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Macushla Pattinson told the court that police were driving on Tobruk St, Svensson Heights when a man without a helmet and riding a motorbike on Alamein St caught their attention.

When police intercepted Jasperse, checks found he had been disqualified from driving by a court and he also had 0.1 of a gram of meth on him.

The motorbike he was riding had been reported stolen from an address on George St. Jasperse told police he had purchased it from a friend.

Sen-Const Pattinson said that by chance the bike's rightful owner was going past at the time and stopped, and was astounded at how different the motorbike looked.

Some parts had been removed to make it harder to identify.

A suspended sentence hanging over Jasperse's head would be appropriate, Sen- Const Pattinson submitted.

"A suspended sentence would see the defendant in control of his own fate," she said.

Jasperse's lawyer, Thomas Bray, pointed to the small quantity of drugs and said Jasperse had admitted to police what he had done and taken responsibility for everything.

He said his client's family life was also different to when he committed the offences, as Jasperse had taken on a stepfather role to his partner's children and was soon to become a father himself.

Magistrate Andrew Moloney described Jasperse's offending as "stupid and pointless conduct" but took into account the man's plea of guilty. Jasperse was sentenced to three months imprisonment suspended for two years.

He was also fined $400 and ordered to pay $900 restitution for the motorbike.