Man who dumped baby from car jailed

A man who dumped a baby in a gutter after stealing a car she was sleeping in from outside a Sydney childcare centre has been sentenced to a minimum of 15 months in jail.

Benjamin Olsen, 33, was sentenced over three charges, including unlawfully taking a vehicle with a person in it, at Parramatta Local Court on Monday.

Olsen, who the court earlier heard had mental health issues, will be eligible for release in November 2016.

Olsen, 33, thought the unlocked car in Sydney's west with its engine running was a "gift from God" and took it because he was cold, a court heard in August.

He later abandoned the five-month-old baby in a gutter before alerting someone.

Olsen found the car after he had been walking through Telopea to retrieve his belongings from his Harris Park home, which had been cordoned off when a sinkhole emerged months earlier, court heard.