The man had also staged a bedroom scene that made it appear the woman's new partner had been having an affair, and stealing thousands of dollars worth of her things.

The man, an electronics engineer, was the subject of a protection order and on bail over allegations in Yass he had been using secret software on the woman's phone to message her new partner.

The woman suspected her ex was the culprit behind the break-in, and his DNA was matched to samples found on a pair of pink underwear that had been planted in the bed.

A magistrate found him guilty last year, but after a failed appeal to the ACT Supreme Court, he appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday to be sentenced for the crimes.

The man has not been named to protect the identity of his ex-partner.

Prosecutor David Swan said the 42-year-old had shown no evidence of remorse and no regret for his actions or the harm he had caused his ex-wife.

His actions were premeditated and had "a calculated purpose to terrorise" the woman, he said.

Defence lawyer Paul Edmonds said the motive behind the crimes — the breakdown of a relationship — was a common one.

But while it was common for the court to see people use threatened or actual violence against a former partner, that was not the case here, he said.

He described the conduct as a "somewhat immaturish, bizarre scheme".

Mr Edmonds had suggested an intensive corrections order would be appropriate, and pointed to possible conditions, including a curfew, that could make the order akin to house arrest.

Magistrate Beth Campbell found the man guilty last year of burglary, breaching a protection order and an act endangering health.

On Wednesday, she sentenced the Yass man to 30 months imprisonment, to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.

Ms Campbell also ordered he complete 360 hours of community service, and recommended the Director-General of corrections consider imposing a curfew. She ordered he not go near or contact his ex-wife.

The magistrate said she found the man's behaviour "deeply disturbing".

"That's a very sad legacy to leave for someone you once felt deeply for," she said.

She hoped the longer period of supervision would give the victim greater peace of mind than if the man had been jailed for a short time and then freed.

The victim told the court that she had to trade in her car for fear her ex was still tracking her movements. She checked the shampoo and conditioner every time she washed her hair.

"I will forever be looking over my shoulder," she said.

The court has heard the man and his wife had been together for eight years when she broke up with him around June 2013.

Shortly before the break-in, he was charged in Yass after secretly installing a program on her phone that allowed him to control it from his computer.

He used the program to monitor conversations between the woman and her new partner, in one instance interrupting and telling the new man to stay away from the woman.

He was also tracking her phone and accessing her texts and phone calls, sometimes sending texts purportedly from the woman to her new partner.

In August that year, the man broke into the woman's new home in Charnwood.

He messed up the bed, put a pair of pink women's underpants on the bed, a small piece of condom wrapper on the floor and a piece of sanitary pad wrapper on the floor.

He also stole property worth some $2500 from the woman.

Forensics later found the new partner's DNA did not match samples from the pink underpants, but did find the samples matched to her ex's DNA.

When she showered the next day she discovered a strange substance in her hair conditioner.

What the foreign liquid was was never confirmed, but the court heard it was highly alkaline and would cause burns on contact.