Noel Barrett was spending $350 per day on drugs to support his ice habit, so he did not want to pay for petrol.
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The 20-year-old was wanted in Albury for crimes relating to stolen vehicles and assaults but was arrested by Wodonga police last week for stealing a car and petrol, and leading officers on a pursuit.
He will spend three months in jail in Wodonga before being extradited to NSW where he owes a minimum of one year and four months’ jail time.
The victim of the car theft had been driving with Barrett in the passenger seat on August 11, but when he stopped and got out at a Melrose Drive service station, the young thief jumped into the driver’s seat and drove away.
The car was found that evening in Glenairne Street and Barrett was arrested the next day, trying to hide from police in the backyard of a nearby Baelon Street home.
Police found 0.1 grams of ice in his pocket and he admitted he would do whatever he needed to, including stealing, to get about $350 needed to feed his ice habit of 1 gram per day.
He appeared in Wodonga Magistrates’ Court to plead guilty to theft and other offences committed on May 8.
Barrett was the passenger when he and a 23-year-old man traveled from Albury to Wodonga in a stolen Nissan Navaro ute and stole $70.13 worth of petrol from the Caltex service station on Melbourne Road.
The next day they led police on a pursuit around Wodonga, before they abandoned the vehicle and started to walk back to Albury, when they were arrested.
Barrister Sally Wilson asked for a shorter sentence because in facing more jail time in NSW, Barrett’s circumstances were “a bit of a tragedy”.
Magistrate Ian Watkins said he would keep the jail sentence to just three months, but rejected an argument it should be served in youth detention rather than adult jail.
“There are far too many young Aboriginal men in custody, but what you’ve done is serious offending,” he said. “You’re obviously involved in drugs, you had a bit of methamphetamine on you – that’s never going to be a friend to you.”