A 28-year-old man who was found with four times the amount of traffickable drugs has been remanded in custody.
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Christopher Smith, who was on bail at the time of the offending, appeared briefly in the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Monday where he entered a plea of guilty to a number of drug related charges. His matter is due back in court on August 17 for a plea hearing.
In a separate matter, the court heard DNA evidence helped link an offender to the scene of a theft almost eight months later.
The court heard blood had been located on the passenger seat of a car, which had been rummaged through, in November of last year. Tests linked Ballarat man Damian Wilkinson to the break-in.
The court heard Wilkinson cut a hole in a fence at a Wiltshire Lane property and smashed the window of the vehicle before looking through the car.
Wilkinson pleaded guilty to three charges on Monday, including two counts of criminal damage. He told police he had been using ice at the time and couldn’t remember the offence.
Wilkinson was released from prison on May 2 for similar offending over the same time period and was currently completing a community corrections order (CCO).
Magistrate Gregory Robinson sentenced Wilkinson to another CCO with orders to complete an additional 50 hours of community work.
A third man, from another matter, was placed on a 12-month adjourned undertaking without conviction for accepting to drive two strangers to and from a “job” for $200. The court heard the 19-year-old male handed himself into police after he and two unknown offenders fled on foot from a stolen white van which contained $900 worth of stolen plaster from a Lucas construction site on February 19. His lawyer told the court her client didn’t think too much about it at the time, but needed the money. She said her client had no priors and felt embarrassed. Ordering the teenager to pay for the plaster and make a $500 donation, the magistrate warned him not to take any similar risks.