A repeat prowler caught inside a woman’s apartment who claimed he was looking for a lost golf ball was remanded in custody today.

Chet Wilmot, 58, pleaded guilty to entering a home on Belmont Road, Warwick, without lawful excuse on Saturday.

Magistrates’ Court heard the woman resident of the apartment discovered Wilmot in the living room, just inside a sliding-glass door, at around 12.40pm.

She confronted him and demanded to know why he was in her home.

Wilmot said: “I’m looking for a golf ball.”

The woman pushed him out of the door and asked him where his golf clubs were.

She also took a photograph of Wilmot and police were later able to identify him.

Wilmot, of Warwick, was arrested about two hours later and admitted it was him in the photograph.

He told police he had been golfing at the Belmont Golf Course when his ball bounced off a tree and into the woman’s property.

Wilmot claimed he had knocked on the apartment door and asked if he could come inside when the complainant “came in like a raging bull”.

Police spoke to the woman again, who said that when Wilmot left her property he went towards nearby houses, not the golf course.

Wilmot was sent to the Drug Treatment Court earlier this year after he admitted six charges of prowling outside homes in Warwick and Paget, as well as three theft offences.

Michael Scott, who represented Wilmot, said the defendant was trying to overcome a drug addiction and needed assistance.

Mr Scott said: “The major issue to be dealt with is the sickness, and I hope the court will work with us so we can get the treatment on the way sooner rather than later.

“We have got to get the treatment in place and the healing done.”

Senior magistrate Juan Wolffe remanded Wilmot in custody until the next sitting of Drug Treatment Court and said he would discuss the case — and the possibility of bail — then.

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