A Rutherford man on drugs and firearms charges – who pleaded with a magistrate to grant him bail last week so he could tend his beloved animals – was behind bars again yesterday.
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Luke Jurak, 29, from Justine Parade, was arrested last Wednesday, charged with supplying ice and with several firearms offences.
On Thursday, he begged Maitland magistrate Stephen Jackson: “My animals will be put down if no one can care for them” and he was freed on bail under strict conditions.
These included paying $10,000 bail and agreeing to forfeit another $10,000 to an acceptable person if conditions were breached.
Jurak yesterday appeared before Maitland magistrate Sharon Crews, charged with five counts of having goods suspected of being stolen – and with revoking his bail conditions.
Ms Crews told the court she believed further offences could be committed by Jurak if he was granted bail – and she remanded him in custody to face Newcastle Local Court on July 8 on that matter.
He was also remanded in custody to appear in Maitland Local Court on June 1 about the four stolen goods charges.
Four pleas of not guilty to the goods in custody charges were entered.
According to police documents tendered to court yesterday, Jurak’s alleged breach of bail included being in possession of stolen goods and breaching his bail curfew conditions.
“About 3pm on May 19, police patrolling Telarah saw Jurak in a vehicle with a woman and they searched the vehicle,” the documents said.
In the vehicle, police allegedly found two laptop computers, power tools, two toolboxes and a playstation 3.
“Checks later showed the two laptops had been stolen the previous evening from Maitland and the two toolboxes were stolen from a Singleton address,” the court heard.
“Jurak is charged with goods in custody offences and is therefore in breach of his bail conditions,” the police prosecutor said.
“Police will allege Jurak was conducting an ongoing drug supply business from a premises in Krohn Street.
“He had fortified those premises for the purpose by erecting large security fences which were chained, together with several CCTV cameras,” the court heard.
It heard police intend to lay numerous charges against the accused, including one of operating a drug house.
Solicitor Chris Bennett said: “Police have added everything they could think of in this matter – even though they have not charged the accused with everything.”
