Daniel Crotty: Huge fine for Manjimup man arrested at gunpoint in Margaret River with 20cm knife

A Manjimup man has been fined $2000 over a series of theft, drug and assault charges ranging from stuffing a packet of Tim Tams down his pants at a service station and handing a teenage shop assistant a bag of drugs to being arrested at gunpoint with a concealed 20cm kitchen knife. Daniel Crotty also received a suspended prison term after pleading guilty to aggravated assault after he returned to a popular Margaret River cocktail bar with the concealed weapon. The 45-year-old pleaded guilty to almost 20 charges including eight counts of gaining benefit by fraud, seven counts of stealing and one count of supplying a prohibited drug. Police prosecutors told Bunbury Magistrates Court that on about 8pm on June 19, Crotty was refused entry to the Yonder Bar in Margaret River for not wearing shoes. The court was told that Crotty then pushed the staff member and shouted abuse before leaving the area. At 8.15pm, Crotty was caught by police walking back towards bar with a 20cm kitchen knife concealed down the back of his jeans. When officers questioned him, the court was told Crotty shouted profanities at police, shouting “f... off”, “f... you maggot” and “dumb c... little bitch”. Crotty’s lawyer tried to argue the kitchen knife had been purchased minutes earlier with the intent of preparing the evening meal, but Magistrate Linda Keane refused to accept this defence. “I’m not going to accept that he had a benign, innocent reason for having a knife,” she said. “Why did he have to conceal it? He was walking back towards the victim where he had just made a significant scene. “There was something about that situation that was of such concern that police had to draw their weapons.” Police had stopped to question Crotty about an incident earlier in the day, where he was captured on CCTV and by staff members at Margaret River Liquor Merchants concealing a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon down the front of his jeans. When he was arrested later that day, he was wearing the same clothes as was seen in the CCTV footage. On top of the fine and court costs of $259.30, Magistrate Keane placed Crotty on a community-based order with a requirement to go to counselling for his alcohol addiction, also handing him a six month prison term, suspended for eight months. She expressed serious concern about Crotty’s other charges, one of which involved giving a bag of drugs to a teenager. On January 1 Crotty went to an Eaton shopping centre shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of shorts and a bumbag. While at the store, he then handed a bag containing 1g of cannabis to a juvenile staff member before leaving the shopping centre. The staff member immediately informed their manager, who then called police. Magistrate Keane said she was “shocked” by Crotty’s behaviour. “You shouldn’t go up to strangers and hand them drugs,” she said. “Whether you knew it or not, they were a juvenile. You were supplying drugs to a kid.” Crotty’s thefts and fraud charges relate to a series of offences across Bunbury, Manjimup, Busselton and Dunsborough involving shoplifting items and purchasing items on a debit card that had been reported missing. On February 17, Crotty stole a pair of $20 bolt cutters from Bunnings in Bunbury, captured on CCTV hiding them down his shorts. He then used the bolt cutters to cut a bike chain and steal a $700 bicycle from across the road. On March 6 he was caught on private security cameras entering a Busselton backyard and stealing a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine from an external fridge, the bottles having a combined value of $150. About 7.30pm on May 12, he stole a packet of Tim Tams from BP Manjimup, concealing the item down the back of his pants and leaving the store making no effort to pay. Days later he stole a premix bottle of Jack Daniels from BWS Manjimup, also concealing this item down his pants.