A CENTRAL Victorian man who was found with firearms, stolen goods, and drugs has been jailed for four months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ashley Martin Lord, 36, appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to 27 charges including theft and contravening bail.
The court heard sometime between January 2020 and January 5, 2021, Lord stole items from a bushland property in Chewton.
Read more news:
Police searched Lord's Drummond property on January 5 this year and seized items including rifles, a sawn-off shotgun, six cannabis plants, ziplock bags containing a crystal substance, an excavator, car parts, an antique vase, a samurai sword, and ammunition.
The court heard a large portion of the items were stolen from the Chewton property.
Lord told police during the search that he had been to the Chewton property about 12 months earlier and he "took a bunch of stuff".
Lord does not hold a firearms licence. He was on bail for other matters at the time of the offending.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Rolfe told the court the Chewton property was well-known to residents in the area and that people regularly "helped themselves" to items.
But Mr Rolfe conceded it did not justify the offending and that Lord had learnt his lesson during his first time in custody.
Read more court news: California Gully man Adam Margolis found guilty in the Supreme Court of murder charge
"It's been a very unpleasant time," the defence lawyer said. "As far as he's concerned, his criminal activity is over."
Mr Rolfe submitted that the 58 days in pre-sentence detention would be a sufficient sentence.
The defence lawyer said a community corrections order would not be appropriate as it would "set him up to fail" because Lord lived "in the middle of nowhere" without a driver's licence.
Corrections Victoria indicated Lord was unsuitable for a corrections order because he had repeatedly breached similar orders and was "unmotivated" and "disengaged".
Magistrate Rodney Higgins sentenced Lord to four months in jail, with 58 days reckoned as already served.
"If you don't wake up to yourself, you won't be so lucky next time," Mr Higgins said. "You will be in custody for a lot longer."
If Lord did not plead guilty, he would have been jailed for six months.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark bendigoadvertiser.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/BgoAddy
- Follow us on Instagram instagram.com/bendigoadvertiser/
- Follow us on Google News