A Mount Gambier methamphetamine addict who was given a partially suspended sentence in the hope he might get rehabilitated has been jailed after breaking into cars to steal credit cards, a first-aid kit, coins, and Easter eggs.
Jericho Ethan Madsen, 26, was released in January after spending six months in home detention and in custody for stealing a range of items including credit cards, first-aid kits, and even netball bibs.
But the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court heard that, just six weeks later, Madsen was caught by police with 15 more bank cards and again a stolen first-aid kit.
Police say the driver's safety kit worth $300 was stolen from a car in Mount Gambier on March 13 or 14.
Madsen also broke into another car and stole a handbag, coins, and Easter eggs on March 11 or 12.
The first-aid kit and cards were found at his house in Mount Gambier.
In her sentencing for the original crimes last November, Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos did not put Madsen under supervision so that he could move to live with his brother in Melbourne and attend a drug rehabilitation service specifically for Aboriginal addicts.
But, instead, Madsen fell in with his regular associates in Mount Gambier.
"It was very soon after that you went back into your old ways and that is because you don't have the necessary support here in Mount Gambier and you have bad influences around you," Magistrate Kossiavelos said.
She said she had no choice but to send Madsen back to jail for another eight months to serve the rest of his suspended sentence.
"Hopefully, when you come outside, you don't stay here in Mount Gambier since you don't have the right support here," she said.
"You go straight to Melbourne so you can have a more pro-social life."
Madsen was also convicted of possessing two ice pipes.
