Rangi Wardlaw, 35, was before the Invercargill District Court last week for a spate of Christchurch offending, including the armed burglary of a dairy as well as an Invercargill burglary in which he raided the same address repeatedly over three days.
Wardlaw entered the Hampshire Dairy in Aranui, Christchurch, in March, waving a large knife. He reached the curtains separating the back room at the same time as the store’s attendant and a scuffle ensued.
The burglar then shouted "give me the money" before swiping the knife once at the victim and leaving empty handed, the police summary said.
Four months earlier, the owners of an Invercargill property locked up the house they were using for storage and left for their other home.
Over three days, items worth thousands of dollars were stolen, including a Stabicraft boat and trailer, and the window of their Ford Mustang was smashed.
A fingerprint matching Wardlaw was found at the scene and the GPS from his electric monitoring bracelet showed he visited the location at least three times, the summary said.
It was noted he had likely tried to interfere with his tracker.
The repeat offender also faced a charge of assault in a family relationship on his previous partner in April, another for failing to appear in court, two for theft of petrol and three for driving while suspended.
In court, Judge Duncan Harvey quoted Wardlaw as saying in July that he was "sick and tired of his out-the-gate lifestyle".
During sentencing, the judge also said the cultural report, which had already been used for sentencing on previous matters, could not be used for a discount again.
"Mr Wardlaw, you cannot continue to rely on what, I accept, is a very difficult background, to justify your offending," he said.
The judge convicted him on all charges, sentenced him to three years, six months’ imprisonment, disqualified him from driving for 12 months and ordered him to pay $110 for the petrol.
