Earlier this year Samuel Leonard Hawkins, 23, pleaded guilty to 18 counts of damaging property, admitting he used a knife to pop tyres in a seven-month spate of night-time attacks.

In some cases he had gone after the same car more than once, until days before his arrest on March 2.

In Dubbo Local Court on Monday, Hawkins was directed to enter a two-year good behaviour bond with supervision and to complete 60 hours of community service.

He was also ordered to pay compensation to victims for various amounts between $120 and $595, to a total of $3932.

Hawkins told police the crimes began as revenge over perceived insults but turned into an "addiction".

Police set up a special strike force to investigate the series of tyre slashings. There were up to 50 reported victims, mainly in South Dubbo, where incidents typically involved a knife or similar implement inserted close to the rim, causing the tyre to deflate.

In February police spotted Hawkins and spoke to him, noting his appearance including his tattoo was similar to a man depicted in CCTV recorded about the time of some of the previous offences, documents tendered to the court by the prosecution showed.

Officers searched the surrounding area in Dalton Street and found and seized a folding knife and small torch. In March detectives moved on the suspect, attending Hawkins' South Dubbo home.

He was arrested and made admissions to slashing tyres on about 18 to 20 occasions, the documents showed.

Hawkins told police he started damaging tyres on cars of people he recognised as having driven past him and insulted him in some manner, mostly via hand gestures, according to documents.

He said people unknown to him would drive past while he was out walking or past his home and that he felt intimidated.

"Locating the vehicle and popping the tyre. . . was revenge for the intimidation he felt," the documents showed.

Hawkins was not able to identify the occupants, times or dates, and never notified the police or anyone of the occurrences, the documents showed. Instead he repeatedly targeted the vehicles, in some instances returning days or weeks later and intentionally damaging the same ones.

"The accused stated that once he had finished targeting the vehicles he believed were used by unknown persons who he felt insulted and intimidated by, that he got 'carried away' and enjoyed the thrill of commission of the offence, although acknowledged that it had become an 'addiction' and that he continued to commit the offences as he had become bored with idle time and not in regular employment," the document showed.