Robert Knight sentenced to jail for stealing a neighbour's car in Orange

Robert Knight, 30, of Nicole Drive, was already in jail serving a sentence for domestic violence when he appeared in Orange Local Court via video link and had extra time added to his non-parole period.

According to police, Knight saw a woman, who lived a couple of doors away from him, hide her house and car keys under a rock before leaving her home on foot about 8.20am on August 8, 2019.

Her car was parked in her driveway, however about 15 minutes later she saw her car drive past along Sieben Drive towards the Orange CBD.

She ran home, confirmed it was her car and after making some inquiries phoned police and reported the car as stolen.

Police found the car in Attunga Place with the keys left on the front passenger seat.

The car was intact with no visible damage but was towed, forensically examined and Knight's dna was found on the keys.

On Monday, magistrate David Day determined he could add a jail sentence onto the end of a 20-month non-parole period Knight is serving for domestic violence because the offences are unrelated so do not need to run concurrently.

Mr Day gave him a nine-month jail sentence and four-month non-parole period starting on June 16, 2021 for the theft.

"This happened in August last year when we were recovering from the car thefts [in Orange]," Mr Day said.

Mr Day said Knight had a bad record and was arrested and refused bail in 2019.