By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A FORMER ice addict, who had committed a spree of burglaries and vehicle thefts, has thanked a judge for sparing him jail.
Arjan Rasimi, 19, pleaded guilty to four separate sheets of charges in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday – three of them occurring last year, one a burglary in 2010.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said Rasimi was particularly “out of control” in late December.
Between 19-26 December, Rasimi and an accomplice stole a truck, a ute and about $40,000 of other property including eight computers, a tong tester, a nail gun, power tools, a TV, tyres and two cameras from five Dandenong South businesses.
“At that time of year, you would have a huge impact on those businesses,” Mr Vandersteen said.
Magistrate Vandersteen said he had initially thought of handing Rasimi a 12-24 month jail sentence.
But he said Rasimi had several things “going for him”: his young age, no prior convictions, an early plea of guilty, strong family support and since doing well on a youth bail justice program.
The magistrate noted Rasimi’s unagitated, well-looking state in court, and settled for a “quite punitive” community-corrections order for two years, including 300 hours of unpaid work.
The work component can also include up to 100 hours of drug addiction treatment.
Rasimi was also ordered to pay $10,980 in compensation to the burgled businesses.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” Rasimi said to the magistrate.
“It was a good thing I got caught. It turned my life around.”
He and a co-accused were arrested, when police blocked in their car with stolen number plates at the scene of a burglary on Boxing Day.
Items such as three zip-lock bags of ‘ice’, a zip-lock bag containing an ecstacy pill, two digital scales, bold cutters, a pry bar and a bag of other tools were seized from the car by police.
According to a police brief, Rasimi made full admissions to the break-in thefts, including his intention to sell drugs, a laptop and power tools to make money.
When asked why he was trying to traffic drugs, he told police: “So some random would think it was Christmas”.
In August, police found a small amount of ‘ice’ in a metal lock box concealed in a book “The Encyclopedia of Venomous Snakes” inside Rasimi’s unregistered car in Keysborough.
He told police at the time that he kept a baseball bat also found in his car in case of a road rage incident.
In June he was charged for stealing number plates and petrol in Dandenong.
A DNA sample also matched blood left behind at a Dandenong South commercial burglary in 2010.
Rasimi’s lawyer said his client’s former ice addiction was to blame for his crimes, but was complying with subsequent drug treatment.
“His family were not aware that he was an ice addict,” the lawyer said. “If not for his family now, he would still be on ice and still offending.”
