A man on the run who tried to evade capture by going into an elderly woman's central Albury home came undone when she calmly caught the attention of pursuing police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 90-year-old was not frightened by Philip Young's uninvited arrival, but instead was more surprised by his sudden presence.
He tried having a conversation with the woman, but Young was so incoherent that she couldn't understand much of what he was saying.
"Perhaps the most serious part of the offending is the age of the complainant," magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim said to defence lawyer Rohan Harrison while sentencing 34-year-old Young in Albury Local Court on Tuesday.
Mr Abdul-Karim then turned to Young and told him the maximum jail term on the charge of enter building with intent to commit an indictable offence was seven years, or two years in the local court.
"Your record does not assist you," he said.
IN OTHER NEWS:
But what it did suggest, Mr Abdul-Karim said, was that Young "must change" his path in life.
Young, who has spent five months and 23 days in custody, pleaded guilty to the charge, as well as resist police and possess a prohibited drug and two unrelated larceny counts.
Given his time already spent in jail, Mr Abdul-Karim said it was most appropriate that Young be placed on a 12-month intensive corrections order.
He was given 15-month community correction orders for the larcenies and hindering police and fined $110 for drug possession.
The court was told how police were in a patrol car heading east along Swift Street on January 16 about 10am when they saw Young get out of the passenger door of a car parked on the other side of the road.
Soon after they saw him walking down the driveway of a private residence in Olive Street.
They called out to him to stop but Young fled between parked cars, then climbed a large fence into the backyard of a neighbouring business.
He jumped several more fences and eventually walked into the victim's Wilson Street home, after first knocking on the unlocked front security door.
After mumbling to the woman, he saw the police outside so went into her bedroom.
When they were gone, he returned to the lounge room.
"The offender appeared agitated," police said.
"When the complainant saw police outside her unit she waved to get their attention."
They found Young in her bedroom, hiding behind the door. In his pocket was a small tin containing 0.5 grams of cannabis.
The larcenies involved Young stealing $104.75 of meat from Lavington Woolworths on October 11 and a further $300 of meat from Lavington Coles on November 10.
Receive our daily newsletter straight to your inbox each morning from The Border Mail. Sign up here
