Penshurst man back in court for breaching corrections order by ramming Warrnambool Gateway Plaza

Levi Tihi, 25, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday to breaching a community corrections order.

He was placed on the six-month corrections order in January last year after he was convicted of a high-speed police evade in a residential street.

That offending occurred on December 27, 2019, when Tihi fled police at 100km/h in Hamilton, and ended with him being ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid community work.

On Tuesday, the court heard Tihi had barely completed any of the community work and had further breached the order by ram raiding Gateway Plaza shopping centre on the night of March 28 last year.

The raid caused more than $180,000 damage and was described by a county court judge as "drug-fuelled madness".

Lawyer Kiernan Celestina said Tihi had served nine months' jail for the ram raid and was sentenced by the county court to another community corrections order involving assessment and treated for alcohol and drug use and a road trauma awareness course.

He said his client had been doing well on the order and urged the court to consider resentencing Tihi to a financial penalty.

But magistrate Mark Stratmann said Tihi had repeatedly showed a "flagrant disregard for the authority of the police and your responsibility as someone driving a motor vehicle".

He ordered Tihi to complete the 100 hours of unpaid work and varied the order to last until January 2022.

Tihi was fined $750 for breaching the corrections order.

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