A man who went on a stealing spree, had an outburst in court and was found with a machete has been released from jail.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nikolas Leigh Ferrall, 37, of Riverside, pleaded guilty to a string of stealing, drugs and bail breach charges when he faced Launceston Magistrates Court on Friday.
Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania
In October last year the court heard Ferrall went to a Prospect business, took an electric bike valued at about $5500 for a test ride and never returned it.
A few days later Ferrall approached a woman inside a Rocherlea home.
Ferrall had noticed a car out the front of the home was left running and he asked the woman if she wanted him to turn it off. The woman said "yes" and never saw Ferrall again. When she walked outside the car was gone.
IN OTHER NEWS:
A short time later the woman's daughter saw the car parked in Mowbray with Ferrall in the driver's seat. The daughter approached Ferrall and told him to return the car to the Rocherlea home it was taken from, but it never was.
On the same day Ferrall stole a motorcycle from outside a Kings Meadows home. Police found the motorcycle in a paddock at Ravenswood and Ferrall's fingerprints were on a padlock attached to it.
At the end of November, police saw Ferrall trying to fix a motorcycle which had no registration plate on it and the vehicle identification number scratched off. Police discovered the motorcycle was stolen in May 2019.
When police caught Ferrall with the stolen motorcycle, officers noticed he was in possession of three knives, a small amount of the drug ice and an ice pipe.
In December last year, Ferrall stole another motorcycle from a Kings Meadows driveway and it was found dumped outside the office of a nearby television news organisation.
Earlier this year, police caught Ferrall with a machete, meat cleaver, knife, ice and a woman's credit card which had been stolen.
During a court appearance on March 24 he called a police prosecutor a "maggot", "scumbag" and "dirty dog".
Defence lawyer Lucy Flanagan said Ferrall became a drug addict while living on the Gold Coast.
Ms Flanagan said Ferrall's former girlfriend gave him an ultimatum two years ago - the drugs or the relationship.
"He chose illicit substances over her and the relationship ended," Ms Flanagan said.
A heartbroken Ferrall returned to Tasmania with the support of his parents, who wanted to get him away from bad influences.
"Unfortunately he fell back into a cycle where he was using illicit substances," Ms Flanagan said.
Since he had been remanded in custody, the court heard Ferrall had stopped using drugs and secured a wardsman position he took pride in.
Magistrate Ken Stanton noted Ferrall was jailed for six months in 2018, but was not deterred from committing more crimes.
"There's no real reason for you to have commenced that path of illicit drug use but you did and are caught in its spiral of offending," Mr Stanton told Ferrall.
Ferrall was sentenced to a 24-week term of imprisonment, nine weeks of which was wholly suspended for 18 months. He was also placed on a community corrections order for 18 months.
The sentence was backdated to February 7 and Ferrall walked free from court.