Jail time for crime spree on first date
A GEELONG man took a woman he had met online on a first date that quickly turned into a crime spree.
Despite meeting the woman for the first time that day, Nicholas Jazubzik, 38, ferried her across Geelong, where he committed a number offences using another man’s money.
Geelong Magistrates Court heard Jazubzik went to Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre in November 2020 to pick up his date’s takeaway food order, but returned carrying a black backpack he stole from a Mad Mex employee.
Jazubzik, who pleaded guilty to theft and handling proceeds of crimes, sneaked into a store room and stole a set of keys he then used to gain access to the Mad Mex staffroom.
When he returned to his date, Jazubzik removed a set of keys from the backpack and used them to open a nearby car. As the woman watched on, Jazubzik stole a wallet and jewellery from the car.
The two drove to the Grovedale Hotel, where Jazubzik bought more than $110 of alcohol.
They then went to a nearby service station for fuel, where Jazubzik handed the woman a bank card and told her to pay.
During a separate incident, Jazubzik was found on Little Malop St in possession of aftershave he stole from a chemist.
A further search by police uncovered drugs of dependence on Jazubzik, including Xanax and diazepam.
Jazubzik’s lawyer Mel Campbell said the theft was “opportunistic to fund his drug habit, which is consistent with his criminal history”.
She said Jazubzik was in a “significant downward spiral” but had spent 80 days in remand being “honest and reflective about his time in custody as a circuit breaker”.
Magistrate Peter Mellas said Jazubzik drifted into “thoughtthrough offending” after “reasonably quickly, things went the wrong way”.
“This is offending where you went to the shopping centre, apparently to get food, and while you’re there you … went about trying to find a way to get hold of things that were of value or would give you the opportunity to get more money,” Mr Mellas said. “You’re at the stage where you have to make some decisions about where you want to go. The court has run out of options.”
Jazubzik was sentenced to five months in prison.