A 21-year-old man has been urged to hand himself in to police rather than wait to be arrested after failing to appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court in relation to a drug treatment order.
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Jordan Thomas Riley received the drug treatment order from acting Justice David Porter in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in December.
The order was made after he pleaded guilty to carjacking.
The order would allow him to avoid 18 months jail if he stopped taking drugs, did not reoffend and complied with other conditions.
Magistrate Sharon Cure issued a warrant saying that it was the second time Riley had failed to appear in relation to the order.
"I cannot ignore this failure to attend, this is part and parcel of drug court [to turn up for a review]," Ms Cure said.
Ms Cure said Riley's failures to appear were no guarantee that his order would be cancelled.
"I'll issue a warrant but I encourage him to hand himself in," Ms Cure said.
Riley's defence counsel Hannah Phillips said that her client was concerned that he would have to serve the full 18 months due to cancellation of the order.
Ms Cure said people may have been telling him things which were incorrect.
"I'll issue a warrant but I encourage him to hand himself in and he can do 14 days [a possible sanction for failing to appear twice]," Ms Cure said.
The court heard that people close to Riley did not know where he was.
In November Ms Phillips told the court that Riley was likely to be in and out of jail for the rest of his life unless he received some therapeutic assistance.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
