IT took Nathan Patrick Sullivan little more than three weeks to breach a suspended jail sentence by stealing a taxi and driving it around Albury and Wodonga, a court heard yesterday.
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Sullivan tried to obscure his face with a shirt while driving the taxi, but closed-circuit footage revealed his identity when police managed to retrieve it after the taxi was burnt out.
The taxi theft by Sullivan happened on November 19 last year following a suspended jail sentence being imposed for disqualified driving on October 27.
Sullivan, 19, appeared in Albury Local Court yesterday for sentence on two counts of disqualified driving, car theft and two counts of malicious damage.
He has been in custody with bail refused since May 28 and has been devastated by the death of his stepfather recently.
Magistrate Gordon Lerve imposed jail terms of varying length, but Sullivan will serve five months minimum backdated to when he went into custody with a further four months on parole.
Mr Lerve was told a taxi was locked in Logan Road about 1.17am on November 19.
Police and the fire brigade were alerted at 4.32am that a taxi was on fire at Sarvaas Park but the cab was destroyed.
It was fitted with video surveillance recording to a hard drive designed to withstand fire.
The hard drive was recovered, sent to Melbourne for analysis and it showed Sullivan in the driver’s seat with a singlet over his head.
But the lower portion of his face was exposed allowing police to identify him.
A passenger in the vehicle, North Albury man Justin Lucas Hailey, was identified by tattoos and received a bond for travelling in the stolen
vehicle.
It was increased to a suspended jail sentence in the District Court at Albury on an appeal by the prosecution over what it claimed was an inadequate penalty.
The footage showed the passenger walking away from the vehicle with 20 seconds later smoke seen coming from the taxi and one minute later the recording stopped.
Aboriginal Legal Aid solicitor
Robyn Hakelis said Sullivan’s older brother got him involved in drugs at an early age and he had been struggling ever since.
“This has been a wake-up call for him,” Ms Hakelis said.
“He detoxed himself.
“He feels healthier. He feels fine.”
