Kristopher Reece John Potter pleads guilty in Mackay court to 49 charges

49 charges: A magistrate has slammed a teen car thief at the wheel of a stolen car saga stretching from Mackay to Collinsville. But the offender claims he has ‘learned his lesson’.

A magistrate has ripped into a teen at the wheel of a stolen car saga between Mackay and Collinsville, labelling the young thief as a “drug addicted mug”.

Kristopher Reece John Potter took two mates on a joyride in a stolen Peugeot, taken overnight on July 9-10 in Andergrove, when the trio pinched a second car that had been left running and with the keys in the ignition outside a Stanley St store at Collinsville.

Both vehicles were dumped when they ran out of fuel and the trio were arrested.

On Thursday, Potter, 19, pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court to 49 charges committed between April 6 and July 12, 2021 in Mackay, Collinsville and Bowen – and as a result has been banned from having a licence for four years and nine months.

“I’ve definitely learned my lesson your honour,” Potter told Magistrate Damien Dwyer via videolink from Townsville Correction Centre where he has spent the past 63 days.

Kristopher Reece John Potter has been disqualified from driving for four years and nine months after pleading guilty to 49 charges.

Among the string of offences were two burglaries that Mr Dwyer considered the most serious charges.

“People are entitled to be in their homes and leave their homes without some drug addicted mug like you coming around,” Mr Dwyer said.

The court heard Potter had also been busted evading police in a stolen car while trying to cover his face with his arm.

“He stated he probably took the vehicle to go out and get drugs,” prosecutor Harry Coburn said.

Defence lawyer Rosie Varley said before this stint of offending Potter had been a hard working and contributing member of the community.

But he spiralled, she said, after a work injury in January 2021 when he fell about 10 metres from a roof and landed on a handrail.

Ms Varley said as a result he snapped two ribs and cracked his back – after spending a few days in hospital he went to live with his dad, but switched to his mum who was much less strict.

The court heard Potter claimed his mother was a drug user and “he found himself surrounded by that drug use”.

Mr Dwyer accepted Potter “had a nasty accident at work”.

“I don’t accept for one moment Mr Potter that this was the cause of this offending,” Mr Dwyer said, referring to the teen’s limited criminal history that included earlier entries for dishonesty and drugs.

“I think you’re just clutching at straws when you’re arguing about your fall.”

But the court heard Potter was a young man and Mr Dwyer accepted 63 days was “very significant for a young person in custody”.

“He needs some guidance and I think the best way for that guidance to be administered is by way of an ICO,” Mr Dwyer said.

An intensive corrections order is a form of non-custodial imprisonment.

Potter will be on an ICO order for nine months, in that time he must submit to very strict conditions including monthly drug testing. Convictions were recorded.

“You make one mistake on this you go back and you finish off the sentence,” Mr Dwyer said.