AN ELDERLY man found himself staring down the pointy end of a kitchen knife after he opened the door to a stranger in an act of kindness.
A couple, aged 71 and 69, were at home about 6.45pm on a Monday night in February when a sweaty and out of breath Kieran Davies approached the door, setting off their dog.
"I need help, I'm being chased by someone," he said.
The Tenambit man opened his screen door and let Davies inside. His wife, suspecting something wasn't quite right, went to their bedroom and locked the door.
Davies, 31, asked the victim for a glass of water. When the resident turned around to give it to him, the offender had a 25-centimetre knife in his hand.
"Where's the keys to your car?" he said.
Fearing for his life, the victim pointed to the key hook where Davies proceeded to take the car keys and head towards the Holden Commodore parked outside.
When his wife heard Davies leave, she came out of the room to find her shaken husband who told her the car had been stolen.
In Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, Davies pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated enter dwelling with intent to steal; take and drive conveyance and larceny worth more than $15,000 for a separate hit on an electrician in January 27.
The victim, a business owner, had his ute stolen from his parents house at Tenambit.
At the time there were a number of power tools in the tray estimated to be worth more than $17,700.
Later that same day the vehicle was found at Turners Road, Millers Forest but all of the power tools had been removed and couldn't be recovered.
Forensic testing found one of Davies' fingerprints inside the tool tray.
A month later on February 15, police found Davies at a home on McBlane Street in Weston.
When they searched him as part of the arrest, a set of car keys were found in his pocket.
Davies told officers the elderly couple's car was up the road, where it was found fitted with registration plates belonging to another vehicle.
On Thursday, magistrate Caleb Franklin accepted Davies' guilty pleas and committed him for sentence in Newcastle District Court on October 5.
Bail was not applied for and was formally refused.
