Tough breaks for man evicted into the cold

A MAN who broke into two coastal properties looking for somewhere to sleep ended up getting two months’ free accommodation . . . in jail.

Mitchell Thomas, 44, was released on Tuesday after spending 61 days behind bars for a string of offences, including break-ins at a house in Lorne and a medical centre in Torquay.

Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday the man was not immediately caught either time, but left blood and fingerprints that later helped police identify him as the culprit.

“I just wanted somewhere to sleep,” was the man’s explanation for the burglaries.

Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Jacki Davis said the offences happened after Thomas was booted from backpacker accommodation in Torquay on June 29 because he could no longer pay for a bed.

He broke into the nearby medical clinic that cold, wet night, smashing a window to get inside but quickly leaving after activating an alarm.

An umbrella stand was used to smash a window and enter the Lorne property sometime in the first 17 days of July.

Nothing was stolen from the home, but when the breakin was discovered a bed had been slept in with the electric blanket left on, and Thomas’s blood was also found at various locations.

The court also heard about the man’s drunken and offensive behaviour on two separate occasions, firstly in Richmond three days before Christmas last year, and then in Apollo Bay before his arrest in July.

After serving 61 days in prison, Thomas was sentenced to time served yesterday, and ordered to be released into a mental health facility.

Magistrate Louis Hill said prison was an “inappropriate” setting to address the man’s mental health issues and homelessness.