William Lawrence McGee, 31, pleaded guilty in the Shepparton County Koori Court to charges of carjacking, and theft, as well as a summary charge of assault.
Prosecutor Jamie Singh told the court McGee and another man went to a Shepparton house on August 4, 2020 and demanded the keys to a Holden Commodore owned by a man with an acquired brain injury.
McGee and his co-offender spoke to the man’s carer in the front yard while McGee was brandishing a claw hammer.
The carer initially thought McGee was playing a joke, but then McGee told him to “stop ******* around” and demanded the keys to the car and demanded that he give him his phone or “I will smash you”, Mr Singh said.
Despite the carer telling McGee the car belonged to the other man, he took the carer’s phone and told him he wouldn’t get it back until they got the car keys.
Fearing the other man was calling the police, McGee and his co-accused left, saying they would be back in 10 minutes and would assault the man with the ABI and “run through the house” if they did not give them the keys then, Mr Singh said.
When McGee and his co-accused came back to the house 15 or 20 minutes later they were given the car keys and they stole the car.
The court heard that two days later police saw the car without number plates driving erratically in Mitchell St, and later found it abandoned in the bush.
McGee’s DNA was found on a hammer, gloves and a soft drink can in the car.
Speaking with First Nations Elders in the sentencing conversation in court, McGee said he had been “highly under the influence of drugs” at the time and knew that he had “messed up”.
His time in prison had meant time away from his young children and his relationship had broken down.
“If I could go back, I would,” he said.
“I will never pick it (methamphetamines) up again. It ruined my life.”
He said he had been attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings in prison and had also done a drugs and violence program.
McGee’s barrister Robert Thyssen told the court his client was already in prison on another matter, for which he was sentenced to more than three years, but had become eligible for parole on August 18.
However, he said delays in this matter coming to court had meant that he had not been able to apply for parole until this was dealt with and that the court would not be able to make any sentence concurrent with that one.
Mr Thyssen also told the court McGee held a position as an ‘Aboriginal peer listener’ in Loddon Prison where he is incarcerated.
Judge Elizabeth Gaynor sentenced McGee to 12 months in prison, and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.
She said McGee and his co-accused had “picked two really vulnerable people” for their attack, and said she had no doubt that both victims were “traumatised” by what they had done.
“You attacked a bloke with an acquired brain injury,” she said.
“That’s a pretty dark road when you do something like that.
“You’ve got to be scared of this drug (methamphetamines) and yourself when you are on it.”
However, Judge Gaynor said she was impressed with what McGee had said at the conversation table, and that he had made “great strides forward” while in custody.
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