A plumber will spend at least half a year behind bars after police discovered he used a forged medical certificate to "avoid apprehension for a bail breach".
Benjamin John Wickes, 30, was sentenced to full-time jail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday when he appeared by audio-visual link from the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
The Lyneham man previously pleaded guilty to four charges, including attempting to intentionally pervert the course of justice and using a false document.
Wickes failed to report to City Police Station on February 10 as part of his ACT Supreme Court bail undertaking, relating to separate charges.
Two days later, the offender emailed the court registry with an attached medical certificate, in which a Belconnen doctor stated Wickes had been unfit for work or normal duties due to gastroenteritis.
On the same day, he attended City Police Station to provide a medical certificate relating to his breach of bail, which had been reported to the ACT Watch House.
However, upon receiving the certificate Wickes sent to the courts, police officers noticed several differences between the documents.
Differences included fonts, text alignment, spacing and the doctor's signature.
A manager from the medical practice the certificate was said to have come from identified it as fake due to numerous inconsistencies.
Wickes had no history of attending the practice.
The offender was also sentenced on Wednesday for driving with a prescribed drug in his oral fluid and driving while disqualified.
Wickes was stopped in January by police while driving without a licence, which had only been disqualified by the ACT Magistrates Court less than two months prior.
He also breached one of his bail conditions after testing positive to a prescribed drug.
For all the offences, the man was given a total jail sentence of 15 months backdated from February, with a six month non-parole period.
He was also fined $1500 and handed a 15-month licence disqualification.
Wickes will be eligible for parole in August.
