Toowoomba man stole car day after appearing in court

THE 28-year-old was handed a suspended jail sentence the day before stealing the car from a Toowoomba auto repair shop.

The 28-year-old appeared in court via a video link from the prison. Picture: Bev Lacey

A TOOWOOMBA man who stole a car from a city auto repair shop just one day after he was sentenced to a suspended jail term has been jailed.

The keys to the Chrysler SRT8 had been left with the car which was in for repairs when Christopher Michael Johnston happened upon the scene at Autobarn just after noon on May 9.

Police received reports of the car being used for "hooning" later that day and it was eventually found torched on Glenvale Road near Warwick two days later.

Police prosecutor Nikola Prince told Toowoomba Magistrates Court police did not accuse him of torching the car.
She said the 28-year-old was on parole at the time.

This offence had occurred the very day after Johnston was sentenced by the same court to a fully suspended six month jail term, she said.

Johnston, who already had eight pages of criminal history, appeared by video from the prison to plead guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle, obstructing police and unlicensed driving.

His solicitor Amber Acreman, of David Burns Lawyers, told the court her client had spent 120 days in custody serving out his previous sentence.

Her client's uncle was due to return to Australia next July and it was Johnston's intention to join his uncle and go and work in the Northern Territory, she said.

Her client instructed he had suffered drug addiction from the age of 13, Ms Acreman said.

Magistrate Kay Ryan sentenced Johnston to 12 months in jail but ordered he be eligible for release on parole as of November 6.

Originally published as Toowoomba man stole car day after appearing in court