Barry Allan New (51) pleaded guilty to burglary after the February 15 incident; somewhat of a departure from his usual offending for which he had been in and out of prison for the past 15 years.
''Your history is a very strong footprint of concerning matters relating to obscene exposure, offensive behaviour and indecency,'' Judge Kevin Phillips said in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
New was last jailed for nine months after a 24-year-old woman saw him posing with his jeans around his ankles in a cemetery last year.
Defence counsel Rhona Daysh said the burglary of the Leith St Central house was caused squarely by her client's alcoholism.
''My advice to him was he needed a wife, a cat, a dog, a house and a job,'' she said.
New gained access to the student flat at 4.45am through an unlocked back door.
He made his way into the kitchen and helped himself to drinks before he was disturbed, and made his escape through the front door.
The victims followed him and called police.
''He was spinning this yarn about how he was an alcoholic and he doesn't do this often and my flatmate started to feel a bit sorry for him,'' they told the Otago Daily Times the next day.
They asked New to open his bag, which revealed a haul of grog - none of which was theirs.
''One wonders where you got the other alcohol from,'' Judge Phillips said.
''One can only assume you were in that student area doing it to other houses as well.''
The court heard the residents of the flat had been traumatised by New creeping around in the dark.
One of the women said they had changed the locks and installed security lights since the burglary but she continued to feel uncomfortable at the property.
The other said she suffered panic attacks going to the supermarket.
To halt New's repetitive criminality, Ms Daysh said his alcoholism had to be the focus of intensive treatment.
Her client had been introduced to booze early in life by his parents and was a heavy drinker by age 10.
With his father out of the picture many years ago and his mother becoming a Jehovah's Witness, New was ''socially isolated''.
Judge Phillips agreed the defendant needed therapy to address his problems but continuous attempts to do so in the past had been unsuccessful.
Probation assessed New's attitude as ''belligerent'' and noted he was using drugs and alcohol immediately after finishing his last counselling stint.
He was imprisoned for 10 months and the judge imposed six months' release conditions directing the defendant to complete a residential rehabilitation programme.
If he failed to do so, he would be back behind bars, Judge Phillips said.
