A man who naively believed a car he stole was a legitimate vehicle for him to take has been fined $900 in the Bendigo Magistrate's Court.
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Jack Taylor, 29, pleaded guilty to the charge of theft of a motor vehicle.
In February 2022, Taylor was driven to a property in the Warrnambool area by two people where he was handed a set of keys and told he needed to drive a car in the driveway to his property in Colac.
The car already had a set of keys in it allowing Taylor to simply turn on the engine and drive off.
Three members of the family whose car had just been stolen heard the commotion outside and after seeing Taylor drive off got in another vehicle and gave pursuit.
They were unable to stop the theft.
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Taylor drove the car to his property in Colac where he stored the car until word came through that the vehicle was actually listed as stolen.
After learning this, Taylor arranged for the car to be returned to Cobden but by that point the registration plates on the car were gone.
Taylor was later arrested by police on February 25, 2022 in relation to the theft of the vehicle where he admitted "I was given false information."
Taylor's defence lawyer Robert Morgan said his client had made "leaps and bounds in a positive direction" since the offending last year.
Mr Morgan said the man had performed very well on his previously court issued community corrections order and he was reconnecting with family.
The defence lawyer also pointed out the extremely long periods of time between the offending and Taylor being in court.
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The court heard Taylor committed the crime in February last year, was later arrested and held in custody late last year before being released in February this year.
Taylor was only issued with a bail condition in March and had this matter listed for a first mention in June.
Mr Morgan made it clear to the court Taylor received no money or compensation from his associates for taking part in the theft and labelled it a "misguided motive."
Magistrate Sharon McRae commended the man for getting his life back on track but warned him to exercise better judgement in the future.
"If something sounds a bit too good to be true it probably is," Magistrate McRae said.
Taylor was convicted and fined $900.
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