THE escapades of a thief who stole a car and drove under the influence of alcohol from Tennant Creek to Mount Isa have landed him in jail.
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Bruce Alum, who was 21 at the time, has spent nearly a year on the run before the long arm of the law caught up with him.
Alum was drunk and stoned when he stole a Mitsubishi Triton from an Eldorado Crescent home in Tennant Creek in March last year.
He fuelled up at the BP service station in Tennant Creek without paying for fuel, collected his brother and headed to Mount Isa.
Alum also stole fuel from the Barkly Homestead along the way.
As Queensland police tried to intercept the thief on his arrival in the copper city, he crashed the vehicle into a light post, causing substantial damage.
Alum was arrested and spent a few days in custody in Mount Isa before he was sentenced to six months probation.
Although a warrant was issued for his arrest in the Territory to do with the stealing offences it wasn't until March this year when he was picked up in Tennant Creek and held in custody.
In the meantime, Alum had been arrested in Darwin last May for unlawfully possessing property, charged and fined $700.
On the night of his Darwin court appearance, he broke into a Jingli house where, reminiscent of his Tennant Creek crime, he stole cash and goods to the value of about $400.
Following his arrest in Tennant Creek last month, Alum admitted to stealing cash, goods and the vehicle from the Eldorado Street home, claiming he didn't know what he was doing.
He also told police he had committed the crimes in Darwin because he was "feeling too lazy to walk and wanted money for a cab".
Sentencing Alum in the Supreme Court in Alice Springs last Friday, Justice Peter Barr said he wanted to discourage Alum from offending in the future and to let others in the community know that if they committed the kind of offences he had, they could expect similar punishment.
Justice Barr sentenced Alum to 17 months imprisonment, backdated to 1 March to take into account time spent in custody.
Alum's sentence was suspended after three months on the condition that he partake in BRADAAG's residential rehabilitation program, did not drink alcohol for 12 months and did not consume dangerous drugs for two years.
"The aim of all of this is to keep you out of trouble and facilitate an environment in which you will stay out of trouble," Justice Barr said.
"I appreciate that some of those conditions are going to be difficult for you but it is the choice you have to make."
Justice Barr reminded Alum there was a warrant for his arrest in Queensland because he had breached conditions of his probation and said there was nothing his court could do to stop the Queensland authorities taking steps to execute the warrant or seek extradition.