The Army Captain who stole tene rocket launchers, The Australian, 15 May, 2008.

FIRST EDITION ONLY:
John Stapleton

AN army captain who stole ten rocket launchers from the army and then sold them for an undisclosed sum to a man with a criminal history will spend a minimum of seven years in jail after he was sentenced at the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney this morning.

Nine of the rocket launchers have never been recovered and could have ended up in the hands of terrorists.
Shane Della-Vedova, 46, who claimed he had tarnished his 28 year service record with the army in a moment of stupidity, pleaded guilty to stealing the weapons, which he had been responsible for decommissioning.

Judge Jonathan Williams said there was little in the way of precedent to help him determine an appropriate sentence, but the offence struck at the very heart of state and federal security. He said Mr Della-Vedova's neglect of duty was of a high order and there was no doubt a prison term was appropriate.

He said the former army captain and father of three had committed a breach of trust for financial gain and without regard to public safety. Military personnel needed to understand there were serious consequences if they stole weapons.

He said mitigating factors were that Mr Della-Vedova had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, had no previous criminal record and a number of people had testified to his good character.

Judge Williams read to the court a number of swear word laden extracts of interviews conducted with Mr Della-Vedova, where the prisoner admitted to the stupidity of his actions. ``I just had an absolute failure in logic,'' the former army captain said. ``I was such a stupid bastard. I am disgusted with myself.''

Mr Della-Vedova claimed he could not remember how much he was paid for the rockets although $5,000 came to mind. He said it was ``just a pittance'' and rejected suggestions payment was in the order of $70,000.

Judge Williams said he found it ``extraordinarily difficult'' to believe much of Mr Della-Vedova's evidence and his behaviour constituted more than a ``single stupid mistake''. For a start the story of how he acquired the rockets in the first place was unconvincing and ``even more incomprehensible'' was that he then sold them to someone he knew was a criminal.

``I also find it extraordinarily difficult to believe that Mr Della-Vedova wouldn't have had well in mind that these weapons...were more likely to be used for some criminal, terrorist-type activity,'' Judge Williams told the court. ``He was either prepared to turn a blind eye to these probabilities or acted in reckless disregard of them.''

With nine of the rockets still missing he said there was a real possibility they could be used against Australian soldiers.

Mr Della-Vedova was sentenced to 10 years jail with a non-parole period of seven years.