He was the wanted Illawarra criminal who had so much to say while on the run from police that he took to social media to taunt them in a series of brazen posts.
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"You won't find me, Superintendent," a cocksure Justin Filipetti pronounced in one of the four Facebook Live videos recorded between June 19 and 22 last year, just days after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
"If you think you can find me or you think you know where I am - come. I'm daring you, come....and f--king find me ... but I'm telling you, I'm like the wind. You know I'm there but you can't catch me."
But catch him they did - less than a week later, hiding inside a laundry in a house in Berkeley.
Fast-forward almost a year and it was a far more humble and subdued Filipetti who appeared in Wollongong District Court on Friday for sentencing over an attempted car jacking that had occurred while he was on the run from police.
Court documents said Filipetti approached an elderly couple in a car at Lake Heights just before 9am on June 27 under the pretense of asking them the time, however leaned into the car and stole their keys when they wound down the window
"Get out of the car otherwise I will stab ya," he told the pair before losing interest in taking the car and instead making off with a multi-tool that had been on their key ring.
The couple reported the matter to police.
Meanwhile, Filipetti was arrested on the outstanding warrant - which related to a fire bombing at a house in Mangerton - the following day.
He was subsequently charged with the robbery in September and pleaded guilty in February.
In court on Friday, Judge Andrew Haesler said Filipetti had grown up in a crime family where drug use was an everyday occurrence.
"Both his father and mother are well known to the court," he said.
"He has a family name that is essentially notorious.... [and] he's been in custody almost constantly since 2011.
"He's never really had any opportunity to try to lead a normal life in the community."
Judge Haesler said Filipetti had spent so much time behind bars he'd largely become institutionalised, finding life in jail more comfortable than life in the community.
However, he said Filipetti had to be released from jail eventually, and would need a large amount of professional help from parole services when that occurred.
"If he's released without supervision, without a capacity to engage in pro-social elements in the community, then the community will suffer."
He sentenced Filipetti to three years and four months' jail, with a non-parole period of two year and two months.
With time served, he will be eligible for consideration for parole in November 2020.
