Young’s Daniel Fensom gave his residential address as the Junee Correctional Centre when he was charged by police for stealing.
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The 22-year-old Young man appeared before the Local Court last week charged with the theft of a motorcycle on October 31 last year.
He was sentenced to 12 months jail, with a non parole period of four months.
His crime was one of opportunity, taking the bike after seeing it parked in Lighting Lane.
He dumped it a short time later after he was unable to start it.
CCTV footage of Fensom with the motorcycle as he walked from Lighting Lane helped police in their inquiries..
Defence for Fensom said a troubled upbringing was behind the 22-year-old’s offending.
“It’s a shocking record, for a young man who is otherwise intelligent,” magistrate Michael O’Brien noted while looking at paperwork for Fensom’s criminal history which runs for 35 pages.
“It’s a shocking record, for a young man who is otherwise intelligent,” Mr O’Brien said.
“He certainly didn’t get the best start in life but he chooses to re-offend.
“He runs the great risk of institutionalisation.
“He was walking past someone else’s property, he will throughout his life walk past other people’s property.
“He knew (the bike) didn’t belong to him, he could’ve kept walking and yet he sought to take it, and when he couldn’t start it he just left it, he didn’t care about how the victim would feel when he realised his motorcycle had disappeared.
“Is this the plan for you, to keep re-offending and going back to jail?” Mr O’Brien asked Fensom.
“No your Honour,” Fensom replied.
“You have more pages on this record than you have had years on this planet,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It’s a disgraceful record by any standard.
“You can’t blame, for the rest of your life, the fact that someone else didn’t look after your properly.
“You can rise above it, you’re a man. You can’t fall back on woe is me, I got a rough start.
“A lot of people get a rough start and rise above it to shine.”
Mr O’Brien noted that to Fensom’s credit he had entered a plea of guilty but added that when first confronted he denied taking the bike.
He also noted Fensom had spent a significant amount of time in custody amounting to approximately all but three months of the past five years.
After Fensom told Mr O’Brien he has “plans and goals but has to stay out long enough to achieve them” the magistrate told him he needed to be “brave enough” to achieve them.
“It takes a certain amount of courage to say no,” Mr O’Brien told him.
“No one wants to see people in prison.
“Full time custody is all that is left, in other words, to separate you from society. No one wants to see that but it is the inevitable outcome because nothing seems to work.
“Not even full time custody, it is just giving society a break from you.
“If you don’t want to be a pariah in the community you need to start accepting the help available to you.
“All it takes is to respect the rights of others,” Mr O’Brien said.
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