Rodney Sumner pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Wednesday to charges.

The offending dated back to September last year and involved Sumner refusing an oral fluid test, possessing Suboxone without a prescription and handling jewellery believed to be stolen.

Then in June this year, Sumner allowed an acquaintance to stay at his home before stealing his phone and selling him a $100 gift card that did not actually have any money on it.

Then in August, he threatened to kill a woman before shoving her head into the window of a car, causing her to scream for help.

She was uninjured.

Sumner was intercepted by police on August 21, arrested and found in possession of three small bags each containing about one point of methamphetamine.

The court heard the man had 16 pages of criminal history, which started in the children's court and included long stints in jail.

But lawyer Amanda Chambers said Sumner had "really made good use of his recent time in custody".

She said he abstained from drugs and had gained 20 kilograms.

"He is very motivated to try to continue to head in the same direction that he is now on," she said.

"In his own words he is 43 and he thinks it's time to grow out of the lifestyle he has been living."

Magistrate Mark Stratmann said Sumner was "not a person without a future".

"He is not a person that the court should dismiss in terms of rehabilitation," he said.

"I think Rodney Sumner, who is before the court today, is a grown and changed person somewhat."

The magistrate said Sumner's history with the Office of Corrections was "not glowing".

"But he is not a person without hope of another future and when the courts see the possibility of that, it should turn around and direct the state to invest some time to assess that person and see if something can be done," he said.

"Otherwise the risk is he goes to prison, serves a period of time, faces the same demons and in another 20 years he will still be turning up in this court or another court.

"Something has got to stop that."

Sumner was ordered to be assessed for a corrections order and will be sentenced next week.

He remains in custody.

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