By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A former Berwick drug addict has successfully rehabilitated at an interstate clinic due to a lack of available beds in Victoria, a court has heard.
The 26-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to a series of thefts and family violence incidents, was praised for his encouraging turnaround by Dandenong magistrate Jack Vandersteen on 1 May.
From October, the former self-employed plasterer had voluntarily gone through four months of detox and rehab in NSW.
He attends Narcotics Anonymous several times a week, undergoes regular urine screens and was on a payment plan for $14,000 of unpaid fines to get his car licence back.
“He’s doing more than a (community corrections) order would require of him,” the man’s lawyer told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
His drug use had spiralled due to business problems, with the lingering effects of his father’s death when the accused was just 7.
On a raid of his family home on 31 March 2016, police found a shotgun cartridge in a safe box, a stolen passport and various stolen Eftpos, membership and fuel cards with different names in the man’s bedroom.
Police had not located the owners of the cards, the court heard.
The man had been served with a full intervention order after several family violence incidents against his Berwick girlfriend in 2015.
In one instance, after an argument over the man’s dog being in the house, the man shattered his partner’s mobile phone, dismantled a laptop and kicked in the front door.
He violently opened a bedroom door, which struck the woman in the face and floored her.
In September, police – during an “unrelated investigation” – found the man in his girlfriend’s bedroom in breach of the full intervention order.
The man had since moved a “significant distance away” to Jacana and no longer had contact with the woman, his lawyer told the court.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen noted the man’s “excellent” frequency of attendance at Narcotics Anonymous and his strategies to avoid relapses through counselling.
Mr Vandersteen placed the man on an 18-month good behaviour bond with conviction due to the age of the offences and the man’s demonstrated rehabilitation.
“I’m not going to fine you,” he said.
“I don’t see the point of that. Fining you is a very sharp stick, especially when you’ve also got fines to work out with the Sheriff’s office.”
He ordered the man to continue attending Narcotics Anonymous and drug treatment services, and to enrol in a men’s behavioural change program.
