A would-be hitman was "living in a fantasy world" when he posed as a sugar baby and robbed a boy who was held at knifepoint in a vehicle he dubbed the "kidnapping car", a court has heard.
Defence lawyer Paul Edmonds insisted on Wednesday that Jesse Christopher Kirkwood was "not a gangster", telling the ACT Supreme Court the 30-year-old was in fact an "inept" criminal who was "high on cannabis, almost on a permanent basis" throughout a five-week crime spree last July and August.
Kirkwood listened on from the dock as he appeared for sentence, having previously pleaded guilty to 10 charges over crimes described as having "a sinister flavour".
The offences, relating to four separate victims, included attempted blackmail, aggravated robbery and making a demand with a threat to kill.
An agreed statement of facts shows the Duffy resident's offending began when he posed as a young woman on a sugar daddy website and lured a man to a meeting in his home suburb.
He and two others, one of whom appeared to be armed with a handgun, confronted the victim before pursuing him as he drove away.
Kirkwood, who later told police he was "the world's greatest catfish", sent the victim a number of messages while following him, urging him to "make a deal" or be outed as a "pedo".
A week later, he hired a BMW from a man saved in his phone as "Tim Kidnapping Car lol" and drove it to the suburban Gungahlin address of a 17-year-old who was using Snapchat to sell electronic cigarettes.
When the teenager got into the vehicle to sell Kirkwood "vapes", the 30-year-old and a co-offender detained him at knifepoint.
After driving this victim around in an erratic manner for about 20 minutes, Kirkwood took him back home and stole $700 worth of electronic cigarettes before leaving.
Kirkwood committed more crimes the following month, when, among other things, he demanded a man pay $25,000 to prevent him performing a "hit" on another person.
The 30-year-old regaled the victim of this extortion plot with stories of being "a professional kidnapper", telling him he would "kill someone for a certain amount of money".
He held a samurai sword while making some of these comments, leading this victim to hand over $2000.
Following two August 2021 aggravated burglaries of the same house in Chapman, during which a Louis Vuitton glass bong and other items were stolen, Kirkwood was arrested and remanded in custody.
The court heard on Wednesday that he had been behind bars ever since, serving five months for possessing child exploitation material and the rest of his time on remand for the current 10 charges.
Mr Edmonds told the court his client was now "a marked man" in the Alexander Maconochie Centre, which meant Kirkwood was being held in protective custody at Canberra's jail.
He added that Kirkwood was not an experienced or sophisticated criminal, saying the 30-year-old "may well have been living in some sort of fantasy world of gangster movies and the like" while drug-affected.
"Your honour could be comfortable inferring that the offender is not a gangster," Mr Edmonds told Justice Geoffrey Kennett.
"Not many gangsters live at home with their mother and younger siblings."
Noting that the court's drug and alcohol sentencing list was not currently accepting new referrals for treatment orders, Mr Edmonds ultimately asked Justice Kennett to consider two options.
These were making a deferred sentence order or adjourning for a period to allow Kirkwood the chance to obtain a place in a residential drug rehabilitation facility, to which the 30-year-old might be bailed.
The only alternative to these options, Mr Edmonds said, was a sentence of full-time imprisonment.
Prosecutor Sofia Janackovic urged Justice Kennett to take the latter path, saying Kirkwood was someone who had "plotted against, menaced and terrorised four complete strangers".
Ms Janackovic said such conduct called for a significant custodial sentence, describing Kirkwood as having "quite a conniving mind" and disputing claims drug use was "the driving force" behind the crimes.
"Plain and simple, the offender is a self-interested extortionist," she said.
Kirkwood remains in custody and is due back in court on May 9, when his sentence hearing is scheduled to continue.
