Rick Pertovt, 32, appeared in Wollongong District Court yesterday to appeal against sentences handed down for a long list of offences including larceny, drink-driving, drug possession, destroying property and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Taking the stand yesterday, Pertovt told the court his 2011 crime spree had stemmed from a period of drug addiction.

‘‘I was on the worst thing in the world - crystal meth,’’ he said.

‘‘I despise it now.’’

Now in jail and off the drug, Pertovt said he looked back on last year with regret.

He told the court his biggest disappointment was also a permanent one - a tattoo of a target inked onto his neck as a sign of his disdain for police.

Pertovt said he got the tattoo while in the throes of addiction and was now planning to have it removed.

‘‘At the time I was scattered,’’ he said.

‘‘Being scattered on that putrid drug, I went and got it.’’

Pertovt told the court the drug had changed him, at the time turning him into a shadow of his former self.

‘‘But when you were under the influence of crystal meth you were a one-man wrecking machine,’’ Judge Paul Conlon said.

‘‘You were really out of control.’’

The court heard Pertovt’s most serious offence was an assault last April that left the victim with a fractured skull.

Pertovt told the court he had turned his back on drugs and was eager to undergo counselling and regular drug testing upon his release from jail.

Judge Conlon said he accepted crystal methamphetamine had led to Pertovt’s offending as he did not have an extensive criminal record before his addiction, but that did not excuse his behaviour.

He told the court he was satisfied with the penalties imposed by the magistrate in January and sought only to restructure his sentences.

Pertovt will be eligible for parole in October next year.