Desmond Robinson, 39, pleaded guilty in the County Court on Tuesday to burglary, theft of a firearm, theft and recklessly causing injury.

His counsel asked the court to consider a combined sentence, involving a term of imprisonment and a community corrections order.

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Court documents state that on October 26, 2019, Robinson stole two firearms, a bench saw and a ride-on lawnmower from an unoccupied property at Koroop.

The documents state Mr Robinson entered the house through its unlocked backdoor, removed the padlocks from a homemade gun safe, then stole a shotgun and a rifle.

Mr Robinson then entered a farm shed on the property, which contained a bench saw on a trailer and a ride-on lawn mower. He hooked the trailer with the bench saw onto his vehicle, loaded the mower onto the trailer, then drove home.

The thefts were later discovered and reported to the police.

Court documents state that on October 26 Mr Robinson contacted a man on Facebook messenger asking if he knew anyone that wanted a ride on mower he needed gone asap.

The man went to Mr Robinson's address, where he was shown a ride-on lawn mower of the same brand. He also saw a bench saw at the address.

The pair negotiated a price of $350, then the man loaded the mower onto his vehicle and left.

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On October 30 Mr Robinson went to another man's address and asked him if he was interested in buying a bench saw. The man said he was and Mr Robinson later arranged to deliver the bench saw to the man, who paid him $350.

The documents also state that on November 4 the offender punched a woman in the right arm, where she sustained pain and bruising.

On November 7, police raided the offender's home. He was taken to the Kerang Police station for questioning.

He denied any involvement in the burglary and theft of firearms, but admitted to possessing and selling the bench saw, and being aware that it might have been stolen. He denied any knowledge of the ride-on mower. He also denied assaulting the woman.

He was charged with handling stolen goods and recklessly causing injury, and bailed to appear at Kerang Magistrates' Court in February 2020.

In November 2019 police received a fingerprint report from the Koroop property which matched Robinson's fingerprints to ones on the outside window of the house.

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On December 14, 2019, he was further charged with burglary and theft of firearms. On December 29, 2019, Robinson made a statement admitting to his involvement in this offending.

The two men who had respectively bought the ride-on mower and bench saw returned them to the police upon being advised they were stolen property.

The two firearms have not been recovered.

In a victim impact statement read to the court the woman hit by Robinson said she felt "miserable", had trouble sleeping, and had lost her confidence and self-worth.

Defence counsel Rebecca Heley said Robinson was in the best place possible to be able to succeed.

Ms Heley said her client would like to have the option to do a community corrections order. She said while he had a significant criminal history, he had been drug free for 15 months.

She said if released he would have stable accommodation, work and would be living with people who did not use drugs.

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Ms Heley said it was stressful for Robinson to be in custody, as his youngest child was six months old and was born with a hole in her heart.

Prosecutor Phillip Raimondo said the theft of the firearms was the most serious offence of Robinson's charges, saying it was an "aggravating feature" that they had not been recovered.

He said a community corrections order was in range for the offences last year.

Judge Justin Hannebery said he was prepared to have Mr Robinson assessed for a community order, but he would be remanded in custody while that occurred.

Judge Hannebery said he did not guarantee he would grant a community corrections order just because he was getting Mr Robinson assessed.

He said if Mr Robinson was not able to comply with a community corrections order the consequences might be worse than if he did not get one in the first place.

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