The summary of facts revealed that earlier this year, Kells visited various stores and helped himself to items including Nike shorts, Pokemon trading cards and underwear, Harry Potter Lego sets and a Polaroid camera.

He was also involved in taking a radar from one locked car and an iPad from another, with a total value of $2,500. The act was committed at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

Kells’ history of offense, mostly for dishonesty, is 15 pages long.

Judge Crowley acknowledged the terrible history of Kells.

“Any judge looking at the sentence I’m about to give you would say, ‘Woah, that was pretty out of line with everything he got, I’m not going to give him another chance like that.’

The judge said he was concerned that Kells told a reporter he stole because he couldn’t cope. But he also said Kells must receive a sentence other than prison or home detention.

Judge Crowley told Kells he had a chance to keep doing the same thing and spend the next decade in a blur of going in and out of prison like he did, or he could do something different. His lawyer, Rufus Hancock, asked for a sentence of supervision.

Judge Crowley said that after speaking to Kells’ wife, he was very impressed with her and her commitment to her husband.

Kells was convicted of the charges and sentenced to 12 months’ intensive care, with the judge telling him: “I really trust you, please don’t let us down, don’t let her down.”

Kells, who has been in custody for more than eight months, left court in a jubilant mood, thanking the judge for his “fair but harsh sentence” and promising to do better.

“You have a lot more positives in your life than some people sitting there (in the bench),” Judge Crowley told him. “I wish you well.”

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter based in Wellington. He worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently, she worked as a media advisor at the Ministry of Justice.