A Canberra man who pulled a knife on security guards and later terrorised a man walking home from work has been jailed for more than three years.
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The ACT Supreme Court yesterday heard Ayden Spicer had about 80 criminal convictions to his name despite being just 23 years of age.
Justice John Burns yesterday locked up Spicer for three years and two months, back-dated to take into account 262 days already spent behind bars on remand.
He will be eligible for parole in October next year.
Spicer pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, attempted theft, assault and resisting a public official stemming from two alcohol-fuelled incidents committed just hours apart.
The court heard he was already intoxicated when he went to the liquor aisle of the City Supa Barn on July 12, 2010 and stashed a bottle of vodka down the front of his pants.
When challenged by security staff who spotted the attempted theft Spicer pulled a 20cm flick-knife from his pocket.
''What the f--- are you gonna do,'' he said, according to a statement of facts.
Spicer then fled the area and about an hour later was walking through City Walk with a group of males, on their way to Glebe Park, when they crossed paths with a 51-year-old man walking home from work.
Spicer spat a mouthful of drink at the man's face and, when confronted, pulled a knife and began circling the victim, holding the blade at neck height.
The defendant demanded the man's bag but the victim refused, and Spicer gave up.
Police were called and arrested Spicer after he fell down while trying to run from officers and simultaneously pull a knife from his pocket.
The court heard Spicer began using cannabis and alcohol at the age of 10.
But he lasted about a month at a residential rehabilitation program late last year before discharging himself, breaching his bail in the process and going on the run until his subsequent arrest in April this year.
At that time police found Spicer at a Palmerston home, and the defendant resisted arrest until police produced a taser.
During sentencing proceedings Spicer's counsel argued the man's actions were the result of ''youthful stupidity''.
But Justice Burns said, ''In my opinion that is a gross understatement of the criminality involved in your offending.''
The judge took into account the man's guilty pleas, the spontaneity of the crimes, Spicer's unstable childhood, the low value of the property he took, or tried to take, and his youth.