A MAN who stole a four-and-a-half litre bottle of scotch from a supermarket has asked the court to jail him, saying that no other sentence would do.
Bryan Clifford Loughnane, 23, was jailed for seven days this morning after he pleaded guilty to the shop theft.
Loughnane’s lawyer David Tamanika said the submission was not one he personally endorsed.
“He feels that nothing else is going to be of any benefit,” Mr Tamanika told Ballarat Magistrates Court.
“He wouldn’t consent to a community corrections order and doesn’t have the confidence to do a suspended sentence.”
Magistrate Peter Couzens said he reluctantly agreed that prison had become the only option.
“That agreement is not reached with any satisfaction on my part,” Mr Couzens said.
“It’s not a pleasant experience (in jail), they are over-crowded at the moment. You might find yourself in the police cells for some days.
“I hope this is the first and last time.”
The court heard that on October 9 last year Loughnane went into the IGA supermarket in Mount Clear, walked around the store and then grabbed a four-and-a-half litre bottle of Johnnie Walker on display.
The Sebastopol man left the store through a fire door causing the alarms to go off.
The bottle was worth $300 and was never recovered.