A 20-year-old Balgownie man has admitted to breaking into popular North Wollongong cafe Diggies twice in two months.
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Kade Morgan was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday on two charges of break and enter.
Court documents reveal Morgan broke into the cafe a few days before Christmas last year, and then recreated the crime almost exactly on Australia day.
On both days, the Balgownie local smashed the same ground floor glass window in the early hours of the morning.
He then forced open a locked cupboard, removed the cash till and took $300 on each occasion, before leaving through the same smashed window he arrived.
The day after Morgan's second break-in, Police came to a Wollongong apartment on Macquarie Street to find him.
Police spoke to a person who answered the door, who yelled into the apartment "they know you're in here, Kade".
Morgan was arrested and taken to Wollongong Police Station.
"It was a stupid mistake," Morgan said in a police interview.
Morgan's lawyer Caitlin Drabble said he was stealing the money to fuel a drug habit, and he took responsibility for his offending.
Magistrate Claire Girotto sentenced Morgan to an 8-month community corrections order and 100 hours of community service.
He was also ordered to pay $1200 in compensation to Diggies Cafe.