Suspended sentence for Adelaide Hills vineyard manager who stole water from pipeline

An Adelaide Hills vineyard manager escaped jail for stealing $75,000 worth of water from a public pipe to irrigate the grapes where he worked.

Trevor Mueller has been charged with 22 counts of theft and one count of property damageHe opened two valves on the Mannum-Adelaide pipelineThe sentence was suspended due to Mueller's age, lack of criminal history and of his contribution to the community

Trevor Dean Mueller left the District Court of South Australia with a two-one year suspended prison sentence for 22 counts of theft and one count of property damage in 2019 and 2020.

The 67-year-old man manually opened two valves on the Mannum-Adelaide pipeline to extract water to irrigate Serendipity Vineyards in Birdwood.

< p class="_39n3n">One ​​of the valves broke during the flight causing damage worth $42,000.

Says Judge Michael Durran t by releasing the water into a stream, the vineyard benefited because the "flow became available for irrigation".

"The water withdrawn was precious - it was worth approximately $75,000," he said.

"Your offense was detected accidentally. A game camera was moved to another location and filmed your actions three times in February 2019.

"A secret camera was then placed inside the counter and filmed your offense 18 times in December 2019 and January and February 2020."

He said the floodgates were illegally opened 195 times between 2012 and 2020.

"These acts were originally the subject of 124 counts against you. In addition to the 22 in court today, they have now been withdrawn," Judge Durrant said .

"These withdrawn counts are relevant in a limited way to showing that this involved continued conduct - your extraction was not limited to 2019 and 2020."

He said he would not punish Mueller for the uncharged acts but could consider them.

"You did not receive financial gain directly because you have no ownership or financial interest in the vineyard, but you have enjoyed continued employment with the business," he said.

Judge Durrant said Mueller previously owned the land which was later purchased by Serendipity Vineyards and had a "mistaken affection for the property". .

"Your actions were selfish and caused harm to the community - water is a finite resource," he said.

He ordered the suspended sentence given Mueller's age, lack of criminal history and significant contribution to the local community.