A man who stole a wallet and phone from a victim as he lay injured outside a Deloraine supermarket has been ordered to do 35 hours of community service.
Aaron Lee Williams, 27, pleaded guilty to stealing and was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on October 29.
The court heard the victim was waiting in his car while his partner did the shopping when Williams approached him.
Williams held a grudge against him over a disputed motorcycle sale years earlier.
Around 3:30pm on October 25, 2025, Williams ran at the man’s car in the supermarket car park and tried to open the driver’s door, the court heard.
The frightened man drove away, but came back soon after to collect his partner.
Justice Robert Pearce said a man with Williams then picked the victim up near the supermarket entrance, threw him to the ground and kicked his head.
As the man lay there hurt and dazed, Williams picked up the wallet and phone that had fallen from his pocket and walked off, leaving him on the ground.
The victim got to his feet and tried to follow Williams to get his things back, but he was gone.
Williams threw the phone over a fence and police later found it. The wallet was never found. It held about $650 in cash, all the man’s cards and other personal items.
Pearce said losing his cards and personal documents as well as the cash had been especially stressful for the victim.
He said Williams “took advantage of the complainant’s injury and incapacity to callously steal from him”.
Williams was not charged over the assault. Pearce said Williams had lived through long periods of homelessness but now had stable housing and a partner.
“I was asked to impose a fine, but you will have difficulty paying it and I think that community service is the more appropriate sentence,” the judge said.
Williams was given a nine-month community correction order and must repay the victim $650 within 28 days.
