source : the age
The man behind a once infamous Brisbane demolition group has been jailed for orchestrating an elaborate plan to steal industrial items worth $1.3 million from a business, before concocting a fake story to mislead investigators.
Sultan Mohammed Deen, known as George Deen, was well known in Queensland in the 1970s and ’80s as one of the Deen Brothers – the group responsible for the controversial demolition of Brisbane heritage landmarks such as the Cloudland ballroom and the Bellevue Hotel.
Deen ran the business with his four brothers before it collapsed in 1993.
The now 76-year-old on Monday pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing property of more than $5000 in the District Court in Brisbane.
Between late 2018 and August 2019, Deen stole several items owned by Contec Proprietary Limited, including concrete moulds, from a site in Richlands in Brisbane’s south-west.
Crown prosecutor Cameron Wilkins said Deen was the orchestrator and conductor of two well-planned and executed operations to steal the items, which were valued at $1.3 million.
“The first [time], he stole $746,376 worth of products, which he cut and sold for scrap metal,” he said.
Deen and the group again raided the site in August 2019, taking $458,000 worth of items. These too were cut down and sold for scrap metal at a business in Rocklea, the court heard.
The court heard Deen in total received about $30,000 for everything he had taken.
Wilkins told the court Deen had to “pay his band of merry men”, so it was unclear how much was leftover from the $30,000 for Deen.
“The moulds are gone, the money’s gone, it wasn’t covered by insurance,” Wilkins said.
The court heard Deen’s group worked from dusk to dawn, and the offending was captured on CCTV.
Deen later lied to police, concocting a story that a man had given him permission to take the items, and claimed he met the man at the location.
Wilkins said a mobile number supplied by Deen, said to be the fake man’s, was in fact Deen’s own mobile number, saved in his phone under his initials “SMD”.
The court heard it was accepted that Deen did not know the value of the items at the time of stealing. However, Judge David Kent pointed out Deen must have appreciated the industrial value in the items.
Deen’s barrister Wayne Tolton said Deen had received about $35,000 after taking the products to the scrap metal business.
“That was the entirety of the monies that were made from this endeavour, and he instructs me that after he paid his workers, and the cost of doing the job, he came away with nothing,” Tolton said.
“He’s not a man who is walking into the sunlight with $1.3 million.”
Tolton said Deen was supported by his family, and acted as a carer for his wife, who had rheumatoid arthritis.
He said Deen was considered to be extremely well thought of and productive member of society, having been awarded community service award by a Queensland premier.
The court heard Deen was one of nine children, and was educated to grade 8. His mother died in 1962, and Deen stopped attending school to support his family.
The demolition business was run until 1993, when one of the companies they were engaging with went into liquidation, owing $6 million, Tolton said.
Tolton said the demolition business was going gangbusters, but they were unable to recover from the multimillion-dollar loss.
Since then, Deen had been struggling, Tolton told the court, and he began working in scrap metal in 2006.
Tolton submitted given Deen’s health issues, and his good standing within the community, he should not face jail time.
Kent said he could not accept that a wholly suspended sentence would adequately reflect the seriousness of the crime, and would not denounce the offending.
He said Deen’s offending was not spontaneous, and instead required planning, equipment, transport, and the assistance of others.
Kent said the loss was substantial, and the two episodes of stealing showed persistence and deliberation. He said the scale of the loss, the plan, Deen’s leading role, and the absence of restitution would require imprisonment.
“This was organised dishonesty over two occasions involving a very substantial loss. Significant punishment is required,” he said.
Deen was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with the sentence suspended after eight months, with convictions recorded.
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