A Lavington man who began smoking marijuana aged nine and who cannot shake his “ice” addiction has been castigated for his pointless life of drugs and crime.
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Magistrate Erin Kennedy told Nathan Sullivan she was amazed at his desperation to get money to feed his habit.
In one of the burglaries for which he was being sentenced, she remarked how Sullivan netted only $50 and in others nothing.
All the while he was on parole, she said.
“Your record is horrifying. This screams to me that you don’t care.”
Sullivan’s demeanour on the video link to Junee jail from Albury Local Court this week showed he appeared to agree.
As Ms Kennedy read through the police summary of his crimes, Sullivan smiled and gave the thumbs up to a supporter in court. A sheriff’s officer had to tell the man in the public gallery to stop trying to communicate with Sullivan.
The 27-year-old was given a sentence of 20 months in jail, with a non-parole period of 14 months. He will be released on August 16, 2018.
Ms Kennedy said that while Sullivan’s drug addiction – he began using amphetamine at 16 and methamphetamine at 20 – “probably has changed you” he still had options.
“You actually don’t know yourself without drugs,” she said.
“I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.”
Nevertheless, she pointed out how she, the police prosecutor and his solicitor, Sascha McCorriston, “want to see you succeed. These drugs, they have to go.”
Sullivan pleaded guilty to several sets of charges, including one comprising five counts of aggravated break and enter in company with intent to steal, unlicenced driving, unregistered driving and driving an uninsured vehicle.
These related to events, with a co-accused, in Mate Street, North Albury, back on February 28, beginning about 4.10am.
The pair rode motorbikes to the front door of the Albury Florist Centre but despite kicking at the front glass door could not enter, so they moved on to a hairdressing salon next door.
This time they got in, but nothing was taken. Over the following 10 minutes Sullivan and the other man broke into three businesses, stealing “an unknown amount of cash” from one and $50 from another.
Sullivan was also sentenced on other matters including a break-in at The Rock Yard on March 29 and being found with a stolen $1500 mountain bike on May 12.
