A man who was recently spared a jail term for spending more than $1000 using stolen credit cards has continued committing crimes since his release, the Northam Magistrates Court was told this week.
Brenton James Collard was handed a community-based order in April after being convicted of credit card fraud.
But he only showed up to one of the appointments required by the order, so he was brought back to court for resentencing.
He also faced fresh charges of stealing, assaulting a public officer, criminal damage and breaching bail.
He pleaded guilty to all charges except for assaulting a public officer, which he pleaded not guilty to.
Sgt Maria McComish told the court the credit card offences took place in Northam, Karawara, South Perth, Waterford and East Victoria Park in January.
The new stealing charges resulted from incidents at Northam Good Sammy’s and Northam Coles in March, while he was also charged with trespassing at Karawara Shopping Centre and breaking into vehicles.
Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer Andy Matthews said his client's offending started after he was kicked out of home by his brother.
He told the court Collard fell back into alcohol and meth use after receiving the community based order.
Mr Matthews said Collard’s tough upbringing was the original cause of his substance abuse problems.
Collard saw his five-year-old brother run over and killed by a steamroller in 1995, while his other brother died in a motorbike accident in 2013 and his mother passed away in 1997.
Mr Matthews asked Northam Magistrate Jennifer Hawkins to take into account his client's early plea of guilty in sentencing him.
He also said Collard had spent 69 days in custody awaiting his sentence and that Collard’s father would support him if he was spared a jail term.
But Ms Hawkins said Collard had continued to offend in the same manner after he was given the community-based order in April.
She said he had also been released from jail for more serious offences shortly before the credit card offences took place.
While the crimes were usually not serious enough to warrant a term of imprisonment, Ms Hawkins said she saw no other option because of the ongoing nature of the offending.
She sentenced Collard to seven months behind bars and backdated the sentence to start on March 15, 2017.
Brenton James Collard will reappear in Northam Magistrates Court on June 17, 2017 after pleading not guilty to the charge of assaulting a public officer.
