Pointing the weapon at the wife’s head, Nash ordered they drive away after he had crashed a stolen car into another vehicle near Hervey Bay in August 2021.

The carjacking was part of a crime spree in which Nash committed 28 offences over 26 days, Brisbane District Court heard on Wednesday.

“It’s a pretty impressive list,” Judge Michael Rackemann said of the charges.

Nash, 28, pulled a gun on a number of strangers after he struck the back of another vehicle in the stolen car.

He got out and entered the passenger side of another vehicle but was pulled out by a man, crown prosecutor Emma Hislop said.

Nash threatened the man and pointed the gun at another before jumping into yet another vehicle and ordering the married couple to drive away.

The wife suggested she get out with her husband so he could have the car.

“However he told them ‘no just keep driving. I will tell you when to turn’,” Hislop told the court.

A short time later Nash told the couple to get out and he drove off in their vehicle.

He was eventually arrested on August 21, 2021, and charged with a string of offences including armed robbery with personal violence, deprivation of liberty, drug possession, evasion, dangerous operation of a vehicle and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Nash committed the offences while on parole, the court heard.

“His conduct was persistent and protracted and presents a real danger to the community,” Hislop said.

“He has demonstrated a reckless disregard for the safety of others.”

Nash had appeared before the court consistently from the age of 17 to 22 for drug, property and vehicle-related offences and has been largely imprisoned since, Hislop said.

Since November 2015 Nash has been out of jail for only nine months and five days.

He has a history of breaching court orders and a substantial traffic history including six charges of disqualified driving, the court heard.

Discussing penalty with Hislop, Judge Rackemann said: “At some point you can’t imprison people forever.

“When people commit a spate of offending such as this you can’t simply add the sentence for each of the offences together and give them a sentence that is crushing.

“This is a fella who has been in prison for six-and-a-half out of the last seven years.

“His prospects of getting parole …(are) probably not all that flash.”

Nash – appearing via video link – pleaded guilty to all 28 charges and was sentenced to four years and 10 months in jail.

He is immediately eligible for parole, with 426 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time served.

Nash was also disqualified from driving for two years.