A George Town man who was given the chance to get off drugs via a court-sanctioned order has blown his chance and will spend at least 12 months in jail.
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In May and again in June, Justice Robert Pearce deferred sentencing of Michael Rodney Smith, 25, for burglary and firearm trafficking to see if he could take advantage of a drug treatment order.
However, Smith continued to offend and was finally arrested in September.
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Justice Pearce said it was inevitable that a drug treatment order, which was an alternative to an actual 18-month jail sentence would be activated in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
"You will also be sentenced for a number of other charges and your prospects of rehabilitation look bleak," he said.
Smith stole six firearms from his mother's partner on August 26, 2018, when they went to the Evandale Market.
His partner returned three of them within hours.
On August 30, police were attempting to intercept Smith when he threw a Winchester .22 rifle out the driver's side window of the car onto the road. He told police he had sold two of the firearms for $300-400.
However, the next month he told police he had hidden the weapons near a mining tunnel in bushland near Lefroy, east of George Town but an extensive search found nothing.
The court heard that a Remington .22 rifle had been recovered in a residential storage shed but that a Dumoulin 12-gauge shotgun was unaccounted for.
Justice Pearce said firearm trafficking was a serious crime because stolen firearms inevitably ended up ion the hands of criminals where they were linked to crimes of dishonesty and violence.
He said that Smith had a very poor record which included a two-year sentence in 2015 for home invasion, 11 months in 2017 for driving and dishonesty offences.
"You have an intellectual impairment and your IQ has been assessed to be in the range of 44-55," he said.
"You are easily led and that has resulted in your involvement with crime.
He ordered that he not be eligible for parole for eight months.