Kurtis Michael Anderson, 23, and Joshua Aaron Colliver, 30, each pleaded guilty in the County Court to a series of drug, driving, firearm and theft offences. Colliver also admitted to a charge of arson.

They were sentenced on Tuesday afternoon.

The crimes targeting rural properties were carried out in the space of a fortnight in July 2020. Both men were using the drug ice at the time.

Judge Irene Lawson said the crimes had a "real impact on the victims".

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The most serious charges related to the theft of three firearms from a farm in the Rochester area. The men also took a ute carrying a wallet, several tools and a butcher's knife.

Three days later, Anderson crashed the ute into a tree after losing control on Lowe Road at Rochester and suffered minor injuries.

Colliver set the ute on fire in a bid to help Mr Anderson, who had bled inside the vehicle.

In a victim impact statement read to the court in February, the ute's owner said he and his family were deeply shaken by the theft, which was the fourth to affect their farm in four years.

The men were arrested on July 17 when police raided a property at Rushworth, where they were living. The firearms were recovered at the scene.

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Judge Lawson said Anderson's life had been "blighted" by drug dependency throughout his late teenage years and into his early 20s.

Anderson had been dealing with a complex trauma condition since his early teens, when his father died after a brief illness.

"I am very guarded about your prospects [for rehabilitation] but you've been doing very well in prison," Judge Lawson said. She described the crimes as a "spree of offending".

Anderson was sentenced to a total of three years and seven months in jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.

Colliver, the court was told, had co-operated with police after being arrested and had written a letter of apology.

He had also expressed, Judge Lawson said, a desire to be a better father to his children.

But she noted that at the time of the offending Colliver was a heavy ice user and needed money for drugs.

Colliver was jailed for two years. He will serve 15 months before becoming eligible for parole.

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