A convicted killer will soon walk free after being sentenced for a string of thefts that occurred while he was either on bail or a suspended jail sentence for headbutting.
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Matthew Gagalowicz, 38, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court from the Alexander Maconochie Centre to be sentenced on Friday, after pleading guilty to four counts of minor theft and one count of failing to appear in court.
He told magistrate Beth Campbell, who later described him as "Mr Charm", that he had "cancelled all my plans" in custody to attend on this occasion.
Gagalowicz was previously convicted of manslaughter in NSW after he killed and dismembered a drug dealer while in a drug-induced psychosis in 2003.
The "butcher of Bulli", as he was known, was sentenced in 2005 to 10 years in jail, with a six-year non-parole period.
At some stage after being released from prison in 2009, he moved to Canberra.
Gagalowicz was back in the headlines late last year, when he was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after he headbutted a man in the car park of Dickson Woolworths in April 2020, causing the victim's nose to split open.
Magistrate James Stewart sentenced Gagalowicz last December to a partially suspended 12-month jail term over that incident and some others.
The court heard on Friday that, while on bail in relation to that case, Gagalowicz went on what Ms Campbell called a "one-day crime spree".
This involved Gagalowicz stealing $186 worth of items from Greenway Nextra newsagency, $400 worth of bags from Strandbags in the South.Point shopping centre, and $600 worth of items from Officeworks in May 2021.
Then, in February, while Gagalowicz was still subject to a good behaviour order, he stole three bottles of apple and passionfruit cider, worth a total of $17, from BWS Dickson.
He also failed to appear in court as scheduled in May.
Gagalowicz's lawyer, Edward Chen, told the court Gagalowicz "had much bigger issues going on in his life" at the time, such as problems with health and accommodation.
Mr Chen also told the court Gagalowicz was better placed to leave jail this time around, after getting a $13,000 payout for being the victim of an assault, which Ms Campbell said was "somewhat ironic".
Ms Campbell fined Gagalowicz a total of $3900, but gave him no time to pay.
She said the fines would be acquitted by time behind bars at a rate of $300 per day, meaning he would be released from jail in 13 days.
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