John Ikin: Mittagong man stole chocolates, cream, and a Kawasaki motorbike

A man has been busted riding his bike while holding a javelin he claimed was a “spear for killing pigs” and then turning up at a motorbike shop with a strange request.

A Mittagong man has been jailed after a string of offences including eating chocolates and cream while wandering the aisles of Coles without paying and riding around with a javelin he claimed was a “spear for killing pigs”.

John Edwin Ikin, 32, faced Goulburn Local Court for nine offences ranging from driving without a helmet to stealing a motorbike, some of which he committed while on bail. From October 29 to December 18 last year, Ikin went on a crime spree around Goulburn and Mittagong, which his lawyer argued was due to drugs and homelessness.

On October 29, Ikin was found wandering the aisles of Coles eating chocolates and cream before throwing the wrappers on the ground. When staff asked him to pay, he refused and left, according to court documents.

Mittagong man appeared in his prison greens via video link in Goulburn Local Court. Picture: Facebook

A few days later on November 3, police saw Ikin riding his bike through the streets holding a javelin, which he said he got from a mate.

“It’s a spear for killing pigs,” he told police.

The lack of feral pigs on the streets of Goulburn made the police suspect drugs and searched him, finding a small resealable bag of cannabis in his pocket.

Later that month, Ikin was on bail when he was charged with three counts of breaching an apprehended violence order and a charge of destruction of property when he went to the house of the victim two days in a row despite having a court order to stay away.

When the victim didn’t let him into the house, he lost his temper and pulled the flyscreen off the framework and threw it into the bushes.

John Ikin has “an obvious criminal history”, according to his lawyer. Picture: Facebook

Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said Ikin had a pattern of behaviour.

“You’ve got a really bad history for domestic violence,” she said.

The final straw for Ikin came when he stole a black Kawasaki motorcycle from Bowral Rd in Mittagong and took it to a nearby motorbike shop to ask them to get it started but admitted he didn’t have the keys, according to the court documents.

He was caught on CCTV riding a bicycle without a helmet to where he had left the motorbike and chaining them together. When confronted by a police officer at Mittagong train station he said “oh the Kawasaki, I left that at the bike shop”, the documents state.

Magistrate Beattie said the charges showed a criminal escalation.

“Things have certainly spiralled in a bad way,” she said.

John Ikin said he stole the chocolates and cream to feed himself when he was homeless.

Ikin’s lawyer maintained her client was a “less than educated man” who had been undone by mental illness and poor circumstances.

“The majority of that offending mainly stems from homelessness and drug addiction,” she said.

Magistrate Beattie determined that the risk of reoffending was too high to consider a sentence served in the community.

“The community is going to need protection from you and the victim is going to need protection from you,” she said.

“The risk is huge.”

Ikin had earlier pleaded guilty to reckless destruction, drug possession, resisting arrest, biking without a helmet, two counts of theft and three counts of breaking an AVO.

He was jailed for 18 months with a 10 month non-parole period. He’s been in custody for three months, so he will serve seven more before he’s eligible for parole.