The man in his 30s – whose name has been withheld as an intervention order remains in place – pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to one count of theft.

The court heard the man and his girlfriend visited his mother’s house in Bendigo in June after she had broken off contact with him, but she was not home.

The pair went to the backyard where they saw a Samsung flat screen TV under the veranda.

Prosecutor Sergeant Mark Snell said the man decided to “help himself”, and took the TV under his arm.

CCTV in the backyard captured the incident, and the man even waved to the cameras as he walked out before leaving a note saying “I love you mum and dad”.

The court heard the man stole the TV in an effort to get his mother to call him, but it backfired when she instead called police.

They raided the man’s house in July and found the TV fully plugged in and in use.

He was arrested and interviewed, telling officers his mother “doesn’t like him for some reason”.

Magistrate Franz Holzer said it was not the right approach.

“It strikes me that you stole the TV as a cry for help,” he said.

The man’s co-accused – his girlfriend – was also in court on Tuesday charged with the theft and a range of driving offences.

She had been caught drug driving on ice on the Calder Highway on March 13 and on High Street in Golden Square on May 21.

The woman then refused a drug test on Bay Street, Golden Square, on June 5. She hit two parked cars in Symonds Street, Golden Square, on June 10 while driving unlicenced.

She was taken off the road for a further nine months.