Matthew Denouden, 42, was sentenced to 17 months in jail on Tuesday after a crime spree on Boxing Day last year, where he threatened to kill a man and threw fence palings at a taxi.

The court had previously heard on December 26 at 9am, Denouden entered the gated driveway of a sleeping victim and ripped the flywire off the door.

At 10.30am, the accused returned to the same property and kicked the gate, before yelling that "his brother in heaven told him to kill the victim's husband". The exchange was filmed on a camera phone.

Magistrate Gregory Robinson said he "lamented there's not more treatment options" for Denouden's schizophrenia and mental health issues, which are the source of his offending when mixed with alcohol.

But he noted there was an element of "once bitten, twice shy" as the man had been previously sentenced on similar matters, and he needed to prioritise the safety of the public.

"It's just luck that people aren't seriously hurt here," Magistrate Robinson said. "It is a difficult exercise, there should be more supports for people in his position in the community. But they just don't exist, as far as I'm aware."

He said a non-parole period would be implemented to give the court some oversight of the man's actions after leaving jail. "Your reintegration with community should occur under supervision, so you're not just left to your own devices," Magistrate Robinson said.

Denouden was assessed as unsuitable for a community corrections order (CCO). A Corrections Victoria employee told the court he may have been eligible for a CCO if he had done programs while in custody, but conceded many of the programs are not available in the remand centre where the guilty man was held.

Defence lawyer Andrew Madden argued for Magistrate Robinson to impose a combined term of imprisonment and a CCO, with judicial monitoring and requirements around mental health.

He said his client was no longer in the psychiatric section of the jail where he was remanded, after adhering to his medication regime, and there were not "a lot of options or programs in his situation".

At 2.45pm on December 26, the man smashed a house's front window, before throwing fence palings at a passing taxi on Gillies Street at 3.35pm.

Denouden was sentenced to 17 months of imprisonment, having already served 176 days in custody, with a non-parole period of eight months.