Canberra court: Ryan Wolfgang Erntner sentenced to jail for raft of drugs, weapons and escaping custody

Ryan Wolfgang Erntner, 29, fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 17 charges relating to drug trafficking, escaping lawful custody, weapon offences, stolen property and dealing with crime proceeds.

Facts tendered to the court state that Erntner was already on an intensive community-based order when he committed the offending between December 2019 and August 2020.

In January 2020, police found cannabis, methylamphetamine, batons and $6000 cash from the proceeds of crime at a Banks home.

During that same month, they stopped him in Kambah where he returned a positive roadside drug test.

Erntner was arrested on the spot in relation to the drugs found in Banks, but he fled the scene.

Shortly after this, police found the car at a Curtin hotel and arrested Erntner, who was inside a hotel room where police found more cannabis and knuckle dusters.

Six months later after being given bail, police found $12,050 in cash from the proceeds of crime, a round of .22 calibre bullets, more drugs and a gel blaster.

Police arrested him again in August 2020 after they found him hiding in the cupboard of a spare bedroom in another man's home.

Other crimes include Erntner stealing six power tools from a construction site in Phillip and driving after taking MDMA in December 2019.

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In court on Tuesday, Erntner's lawyer, Josie Dempster, argued for the release of her client and to place him on a suspended jail term with supervision because of the amount of pre-sentence custody he had already served.

Ms Dempster said there was "no shying away that there are 17 serious offences before the court".

"It has to be conceded that an aggravating feature was being on an intensive corrections order at the time of the offending," she said.

She said her client offended because he was going through "enormous self destruction" during a "low period in his life".

"All of the offending was because of Mr Erntner's relapse into drug use," Ms Dempster said.

She said circumstances had changed because this was the first time her client had been diagnosed with mental health issues - which include PTSD and schizophrenia - developed from his exposure to domestic violence during his upbringing and having two friends dying in road accidents.

Ms Dempster said that when her client was given bail in April 2020, he could not cope and "very foolishly and very selfishly gave in to temptation" that led to more drug use and more offending.

She said the offences were unplanned, chaotic, unsophisticated and "somewhat desperate".

She said he has been offered full-time employment in carpentry after he is released.

Prosecutor Margaret Smith said Erntner committing further offences while already serving a community-based order was an aggravating factor.

She said the escape from police arrest was serious as it could have injured police officers who had a grip on the diver's door.

"The defendant has a highly relevant criminal history that leaves no room for leniency," Ms Smith said.

She said the offender's prospects of rehabilitation needed "intensive support" and that full-time jail was the only appropriate sentence.

Magistrate Glenn Theakston said the time Erntner had already served was "considerable but the offending is considerable as well".

Mr Theakston said that while Erntner's guilty pleas indicated remorse, these 17 offences crossed the threshold for a full-time jail term.

He sentenced Erntner to 27 months jail from May 2020 to August 2022 with the non-parole period until October 11 this year.

He also fined Erntner a total of just over $4000 for a number of the offences.

Ernter's fiancé was in court to support him.

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