Adam Peter Coogan, who last year was captured on surveillance video trying to drag a woman into a car, was sentenced on Wednesday over the apparent abduction attempt and an unrelated burglary.
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In October last year, 31-year-old Coogan had arranged to meet a former partner in Red Hill but when he arrived they began fighting. A surveillance camera captured the episode in which Coogan attempted to drag the woman into the car, kicking her in the process as her friend watched on. She managed to escape.
The footage was released to the public to track down the people involved, and the woman approached police. In the meantime, Coogan sent her abusive and threatening texts and Facebook messages.
He was arrested and charged with unlawful confinement and common assault, to which he pleaded guilty. He also pleaded guilty over the messages, to a Commonwealth charge of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
In February last year, Coogan broke the window of a house in Ngunnawal and ransacked the home, stealing cash, electronics and jewellery to the tune of $25,000.
He was on drugs at the time and could not remember committing the crime, but later pleaded guilty to burglary and two counts of theft when shown evidence of his fingerprints at the scene.
The victim, in a statement she read out loud at Coogan's sentencing hearing in July, said she had been left feeling unsafe in her own home. She used to love jewellery, but not anymore.
She said he took her mother's engagement ring, which she could never replace. He took a ring and pearl necklace and earrings her grandmother had given her before she passed away. "You took jewellery that my son and other family members gave me to show their love for me ... these can never be replaced," she said.
Most of the property had not been recovered. After Coogan read the woman's statement he offered to try and look for it if he was granted bail. He was not freed, but at some point a small quantity of jewellery turned up at Gungahlin police station. The woman identified it as the least valuable of what was stolen.
Coogan would not let anyone else look through his belongings, and the sentencing judge said any chance of recovering the jewellery would have to wait until he was released from jail.
The ACT Supreme Court's Justice Hilary Penfold sentenced Coogan on Wednesday to two years and 11 months in prison for the six offences, with a non-parole period of 15 months.
He will be eligible for parole in February 2018.
