By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A woman has been bailed after being accused of deliberately running down two men during a repeated series of drive-bys in a Dandenong residential area.
Nuakouar Gatluak, 20, of Patterson Lakes was charged with conduct endangering life, recklessly causing injury and making threats to kill.
She told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 20 March that she had believed the three men had tried to car-jack her.
This was corroborated by her passenger, a 16-year-old cousin, who said one of the men tried to open the door.
The car allegedly struck two of the males as they walked in the middle of Sutherland Road, Dandenong, about 11.45pm on 18 March.
One of the victims was hit by the driver’s side mirror and thrown into the air, another was collected on the passenger side and the third dodged the vehicle, police informant Detective Senior Constable Gabriella Markovics told the court.
The victims claimed they’d first seen Gatluak lighting a crack pipe in a parked car in Lexton Avenue.
One of them allegedly told Gatluak not to smoke drugs, and she then honked the car horn, loudly revved the car and drove at speed – striking two of the victims as they walked away.
A screaming Gatluak allegedly did a series of U-turns and blockies in repeated attempts to run down the victims across a 150-metre area.
“I’m going to f***ing kill you,” she said, according to the victims and two independent witnesses.
During the incident, her cousin climbed from the front to the back seat and covered her eyes due to fright, Det Sen Const Markovics told the court.
With screeching tyres, Gatluak again chased her victims as they fled back to Lexton Avenue.
Her car overshot a corner, drove onto a nature strip and then reversed at speed along a footpath at the victims.
The frightened males armed themselves with fence palings in a “futile attempt” to stop Gatluak, Det Sen Const Markovics said.
During the continuing pursuit, she accelerated “excessively” and crashed into two vehicles parked on a nature strip on Sullivan Road.
On her way home, a rear tyre blew on Gatluak’s car on Thompsons Road, Patterson Lakes.
She drove her mother’s Tarago back to Dandenong about 1.20am to pass insurance details to the owners of the damaged cars, Det Sen Const Markovics said.
On her arrest, Gatluak repeatedly kicked out inside the divisional van and refused a final breath test.
On a preliminary breath test, Gatluak blew 0.113.
“She says she has a bad temper and screams and yells and kicks out when she’s angry,” Det Sen Const Markovics said.
In her police interview, the accused admitted she drove the vehicle at the time and ran over a tall man because he was “standing in the middle of the road,” the court heard.
Gatluak allegedly denied smoking ice and drinking alcohol that night.
She also denied she had continued driving at the victims several times but had driven around the block to see their faces.
The court was told that Gatluak was found suitable for a Youth Justice bail program given her age, intellectual disability, vulnerability and having never before been in custody.
She had agreed to a referral for substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Magistrate Pauline Spencer noted that Gatluak had not been in trouble with the law since August 2015, had followed a past Youth Justice probation order and her risk of re-offending could be managed with strict conditions.
Ms Spencer said of the men’s conduct “maybe not all is what it seems” in the “clearly contested” matter.
Gatluak was bailed on a night curfew and on condition she didn’t drive or imbibe alcohol or illicit drugs.
She is set to appear at a contest mention at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 12 April.
