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The Crown sought six months in jail, minus time served. The defence asked for no more jail time. The man spent 46 days behind bars, counted as 69 due to harsh conditions at Maplehurst jail in Milton.

He has been homeless for decades and is addicted to drugs.

Defence lawyer Steve Gehl asked Justice Craig Parry to release the man before Christmas “because this might be the last one he gets to see.”

Parry obliged and put him on probation for two years.

“Maybe it’s the season, but I think 69 days is enough,” the judge told the man. “This is a bit of a Christmas miracle for you.”

In January, the man broke into Grace Bible Church on Grand Avenue South in Cambridge and “ransacked” the fridge, court was told. In May, he broke into a Zehrs on Ottawa Street North in Kitchener to get food.

He committed the break-ins just to survive, Gehl said.

“These offences are not motivated by greed,” he said. “They are motivated by need.”

“There are worse break and enters,” Parry said. “This wasn’t somebody’s home.”

The man also stole alcohol from several liquor stores.

“The LCBO is just an attempt to medicate himself because he couldn’t get drugs,” Gehl said. “His life is harsh.”

Stealing from the LCBO is “frowned upon, but insofar as victims go, it’s a state-run monopoly — they’re not exactly the most vulnerable of victims,” Parry said.

The first entry on the man’s 15-page criminal record dates back to 1987.

“The record is long, related, persistent, not a whole lot of gaps,” Gehl said.

Conditions at Maplehurst jail are terrible, Gehl said.

“Things are getting worse and worse and worse. Triple-bunking is the norm, not the exception, so he should get credit for that.”

With three inmates in a cell, one sleeps on the floor.

A six-month jail sentence is “not out of the question, but I try to keep in mind what it is you’re actually here to be sentenced for and who it is you actually victimized,” the judge said.

“If it was anyone more vulnerable … I’d be left with no choice but to separate you from society for a much longer period of time.”

The man thanked Parry for releasing him from jail.

“Behave yourself,” the judge said.

“I certainly will,” he said.

“Merry Christmas,” Parry told him.