A young Springdale Heights woman with a long history of illicit drug-induced offending has been jailed for 12 months for car theft and disqualified driving.
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Magistrate Melissa Humphreys briefly stood down the case of Mikaela Morgan to give further thought as to whether a sentence other than full-time jail would suffice.
But on returning to the bench, Ms Humphreys said the court had no other option for the 20-year-old.
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Defence lawyer Hassan Ameen earlier submitted to Albury Local Court that Morgan had indicated "she does want to address the drug problem".
Mr Ameen said Morgan had already become too much of a fixture in the jail system.
"There is a risk that Miss Morgan will be institutionalised if she spends too much time in custody," he said, pointing out she already had a long criminal record.
Mr Ameen said serving a jail term in the community by way of an intensive corrections order was a possible way for her to undertake appropriate drug rehabilitation.
He said his client was now also eight weeks' pregnant.
Before given consideration to her sentence, Ms Humphreys directly addressed Morgan on the grave situation she was facing.
"There is no other way the court can sentence you today other than imprisonment," she said.
Morgan, who appeared via a video link to Junee jail, pleaded guilty to car theft and to a second offence of driving while disqualified.
The court was told how Morgan had, on June 2, befriended a man who owned a 2011 green Ford Falcon.
They met at a house in Hibiscus Crescent, West Albury, where the man handed the keys to her after she asked to borrow the car for 20 to 30 minutes.
Her intention, she told him, was to buy "food for the children".
CCTV footage captured Morgan, a disqualified driver until April 21, 2024, driving south on Hibiscus Crescent.
It was the last time the man saw his car.
The man lodged a complaint with Albury police on June 7, then the following day police went to a house in Rutherglen over an unrelated matter.
They found both Morgan and the car.
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Morgan - who the court previously heard began using illicit drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine, at the age of 12 - committed a similar crime in 2022.
In that incident, to which she admitted to a charge of take and drive a conveyance, Morgan had sent a message to the victim, then 52, over a dating website on August 21.
That same day she had a brief conversation with the man during which he said she could stay at his address in Cassia Street, West Albury, after she told him she was homeless.
He picked her up in Wyse Street about 4.30pm and took her to his home, at which she point she asked to borrow his 2013 Ford Falcon XR6.
"No," he replied, "I need it to go to work at 4.45pm."
But a short time later he heard the engine start and the car being driven away.
The following day the car activated a speed camera on the Hume Highway at Wallan, on Melbourne's northern fringe, with a speed of 137kmh.
The car was recovered in the Sydney suburb of Macquarie Fields on September 26, 2022.
Morgan must serve a minimum of six months, becoming eligible for parole on April 21, 2024.
She was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.
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