A man caught on CCTV torching a dumped stolen car has been jailed after being given opportunities to avoid prison.
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Orey McMahon was on a community corrections order for a Barnawartha break-in last year when he gutted the vehicle in Wodonga.
McMahon didn't steal the car, but the Wodonga Magistrates Court heard someone had threatened him to set it alight. The vehicle was stolen on November 1 and police rendered it immobile on Blackwood Avenue.
McMahon tried to roll-start the vehicle, which was worth about $2000, but set it on fire when he couldn't get it going. He said he had been intimidated to do it.
McMahon was also involved in a theft worth $11,250 at Beechworth, with his DNA found on a gun safe.
It was unclear what happened to the stolen goods.
Magistrate Ian Watkins recently noted McMahon had been put on a court treatment program, and was placed on a corrections order for the Barnawartha break-ins last September.
He had targeted the town's general store with Joseph Mills and stole cigarette lighters, and had been ordered to perform 90 hours of community work but failed to engage.
"It seems to me at this point in time a term of imprisonment is warranted," magistrate Ian Watkins said.
The magistrate noted it would be more onerous than normal in jail amid the pandemic with no face-to-face visits. McMahon nodded when told he would serve seven months, followed by an 18-month corrections order.
