Mark Anthony Nicholls pleads guilty in Toowoomba Magistrates Court to unlawful use of a motor vehicle, enter dwelling with intent by break at night

Breaking into the garage of a Brisbane home and riding in a stolen car saw a 20-year-old Toowoomba man spent 111 days in pre-sentence custody, missing the pregnancy of his partner’s first child, a court has been told.

A 20-year-old spent three months in pre-sentence custody after he was caught as a passenger in a stolen vehicle and for breaking into a garage of a Brisbane home, leaving empty-handed.

In Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Tuesday Mark Anthony Nicholls pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle, enter a dwelling with intent by break at night and stealing.

The court was told that sometime between 10.30pm and 2am of May 29 this year a black Ford Everest was reported stolen from a Toowoomba address.

A few days later about 2.22am on May 31 the 20-year-old was captured on CCTV entering the front yard and through an unlocked garage door of a home in Grange, in Brisbane.

Police prosecutor Bettina Trenear told the court that Nicholls tried to enter the home through an internal door, but it was locked, and he fled, with police arriving shortly after to see him in the stolen Ford Everest.

The following day about 11.30pm the court was told the same vehicle was caught on CCTV at a Ruthven Street service station, and that Nicholls was caught on camera pumping $98 of fuel into the vehicle before fleeing.

Ms Trenear was the Ford Everest was recovered on June 4, and forensic evidence confirmed that Nicholls had been in the car and four days later he was taken into custody.

The young man’s solicitor Kirstie Smith said that while her client was at the house in Brisbane nothing was stolen, and that Nicholls was of the belief that when at the service station the driver would pay for the fuel.

Ms Smith said the 111 days of pre-sentence custody had been difficult for Nicholls as his partner was 20 weeks pregnant with their first child, and that he had missed some important milestones through the process including the ultrasound that revealed the baby’s gender.

The court was told however that these offences, while over a span of two days, were committed just two weeks after he had been placed on parole for unrelated offending.

Ultimately magistrate Leanne Scoines ordered the pre-sentence custody as time served and put Nicholls on an eight month probation order.