A Cabramatta man has avoided jail after a "bizarre" break-in attempt at a University of Wollongong childcare centre earlier this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The court heard Moudasser Kanj, 39, forced entry to the Kids' Uni child care centre, stole ipads and sleeping mats, and then fell asleep in his car outside.
The man faced Wollongong court on Tuesday charged with break and enter.
"It's very bizarre..." Magistrate Claire Girotto told the man in disbelief.
"It sounds like you were having some kind of brain snap when you were doing it," she said.
Court documents reveal Kanj was driving northbound on the M1 at Gwynville in the early hours of January 25 when his car ran out of diesel.
He stopped outside the University of Wollongong and at 3.59AM, Kanj was seen entering and walking around the university grounds before heading back to his car to get a crowbar.
He then went back onto the campus and forced open the door of Kids at Uni child care centre, stealing two children's sleeping mats, two ipads and a table lamp.
At 4.39AM, he went back to his car with the stolen items, before getting into the driver's seat and going to sleep.
Two hours later, highway patrol officers saw items from the break-in laying next to Kanj's car, and after speaking to UOW security, police opened the car door, woke Kanj up and placed him under arrest.
Officers found four Xanax tablets in the car.
Kanj's lawyer Caitlin Drabble said the break-in was not pre-planned or sophisticated, and that Kanj had taken a cocktail of prescribed medication as well as unprescribed medication.
The court heard that Kanj suffers from chronic pain and PTSD after serving in the Lebanese army as a young man.
Kanj self-prescribed medication to manage his pain, she said.
She emphasised Kanj had no memory of the event and did not know the building was a childcare centre.
Magistrate Girotto said the break and enter was of low objective seriousness.
"The bizarre thing is you break in, then fall asleep in your car," she said.
She sentenced Kanj to a three-year community corrections order with supervision and instructed him to complete 250 hours of community service.