Jesse, 26, and Jackson George, 23, pleaded guilty to planning to sell the pygmy marmosets taken from Symbio wildlife park

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Two Sydney brothers charged over the theft of three rare miniature monkeys have pleaded guilty to transporting and intending to sell them.

Jackson George, 23, and his brother Jesse, 26, were charged on Sunday with dealing with proceeds of crime after three pygmy marmosets were stolen from the Symbio wildlife park in Helensburgh, south of Sydney, on Friday night.

Acting on a tip-off, police found one monkey after stopping the brothers in a car at the Appin Hotel on Sunday afternoon. Despite attempts by Jesse to hide the four-week old, police seized the animal and charged the brothers.

While both men are not deemed to be responsible for the theft, police have accused Jackson of obtaining the monkey from the alleged thief or thieves and planning to sell it.

Police and zookeepers had been desperate to find the suckling infant after experts warned it was likely to die if it spent more than 24 hours without its mother. A second monkey, 10-month old sister Sofia, was uncovered in the Campbelltown area on Sunday night but Gomez, the father of the two, is still missing.

Baby monkey stolen from NSW zoo found by police Read more

Police opposed Jackson’s bail appeal in Campbelltown court on Monday, saying they believed he had further information about Gomez’s whereabouts.

“He has shown complete contempt for police and their desperate attempts to reunite the animals with their family unit,” prosecutor Peter Robinson told the court. “He has laughed and stated, ‘you have my phone, you’ll work it out’.”

However, police say they have not been able to glean any further information about the missing monkey’s location from Jackson’s phone.

Court documents show Jackson was communicating with a third person, Ryan, who offered to sell the baby monkey to the 23-year-old.

“Ay, check out my monkey”, Ryan said in a text message with a picture of the animal, which was tendered in court.

“That’s mad bro. Wanna sell it bruh?” Jackson responded.

Ryan told Jackson he “paid nothing” for the monkey, but “got it from the zoo last night”.

Later on in the conversation, when Ryan asked how much they could sell the pygmy marmoset for, Jackson suggested “500”.

“But [I] haven’t been offered any in ages bro,” he texted.

There was also evidence from the texts that the pair had been, or planned to be, involved in the selling of a snake and a joey.

Magistrate Clare Farnan said the situation was a rare one for the courts.

“It’s certainly not a common thing to see a proceeds of crime as a pygmy marmoset monkey,” she said.

Farnan sentenced Jesse to a two-year good behaviour bond and fined him $1,500 for being an accomplice to the crime.

Jackson was granted bail until his sentencing on January 10 while a full pre-sentence report was ordered.