![Quick cash for ice addict Quick cash for ice addict](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/CXnecSe9En4WWrpX4sC8Fx/f058ebdf-8756-432c-8baa-d3c969004f3d.jpg/r0_0_1600_900_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The burglar sentenced to two years in jail for a string of offences in the North East has vowed to appeal his sentence.
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Benalla man Brent Dixon, 30, was an ice user who needed quick cash to continue feeding his habit.
He donned gloves and a mask as a disguise in the early hours of October 9 and removed glass panels to break into the Wangaratta Salvage Centre.
The next morning the owner discovered a $150 battery was stolen from a ride on mower.
Three days later Dixon put on a Hawthorn football t-shirt and kept his face and hands covered when breaking into a cage at the Wangaratta Transfer Station.
He stole a pair of runners worth $150 and another battery.
The drug use had also led to domestic violence against his partner in their home.
Wodonga Magistrates’ Court heard Dixon would punch the woman in the head and make threats towards her in front of his 12-year-old daughter.
She said his reason was “I have been on a nine-day bender and have not slept”.
Around the same time, in April and May this year, police caught Dixon driving his Honda coupe twice with methamphetamine in his system on the Hume Freeway and Goulburn Valley Highway.
Solicitor Greg Duncan said ice had a major impact on Dixon’s life, but he had got himself clean.
Magistrate John O’Callaghan said he would not allow a drug addiction to be used as an excuse for repeated burglaries.
“It will give you an opportunity of beating the ice habit,” he said.
“He’s sorry all this has happened, but there’s no remorse for the crimes.”
The magistrate said the jail sentence would not be crushing, but Dixon disagreed.
“If I’m not out to see the birth of my child, I don’t know what I have to live for,” Dixon said.
“I tried months ago to get into rehab and just had the door shut in my face.”
He said he would appeal the jail sentence, but any appeal bail would be opposed by police.