The need to get ice led a Canberra teenager on a northside crime spree that included two ram raids and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a court has heard.
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Dylan Bowler, 18, said he turned to crime to fund his methylamphetamine addiction after he lost his job in horticulture.
He claims he has no memory of the two ram raids, at Kippax Fair and Gungahlin Village shopping centres in late March, which cost about $160,000 in property damage and stolen goods.
Bowler has also been charged with break-ins at a Fyshwick takeaway, a Baby Bunting store, the Ainslie newsagency, and the Best Friends Pet Superstore.
He has pleaded guilty to 24 offences, including burglary, aggravated burglary, theft, arson, and driving a stolen car, and appeared for sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Bowler's crime spree began in December when he was arrested for riding in a stolen car.
He then unsuccessfully attempted to steal a car in Higgins in March, but accidentally left behind a bum bag containing identification.
Court documents said the break-ins in Ainslie and Fyshwick caused almost $9000 in damage.
Bowler and another man then launched the ram raids, with tens of thousands of dollars in jewellery taken from the two stores after stolen cars were allegedly used to smash through security doors at Kippax Fair on March 30, and then at Gungahlin Village the next day.
The heists were captured on CCTV footage.
Bowler told Acting Acting Justice David Robinson that he started "doing crime" when his ice use became an addiction.
"I started meth real hard and that's when I started doing crime," he said.
Bowler spoke of his remorse and told the court he wanted to enter a Southern Highlands rehabilitation facility so he could overcome his addiction and live a normal life.
Defence barrister Alyn Doig argued his client's sentence could be partially served in rehabilitation.
But prosecutor Anthony Williamson said Bowler needed to serve more jail time, to reflect the seriousness of the offences, before he could be released to the care of the facility.
Justice Walmsley reserved his decision and will hand down sentence later this month.
