By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A serial “violent” offender has been jailed for up to four-and-a-half years over a brutal bashing and robbery at gunpoint of a driver in Noble Park.
Saipele Mataafa, 22, was in the front passenger seat of a stolen Holden Commodore, which pulled up beside the victim’s parked Camry in Shirley Street about 1am on 31 July 2018, the Victorian County Court heard.
The Commodore driver wound down the window and pointed a black handgun at the victim, who had been talking to friends on his phone.
The co-offender demanded money from the victim.
Mataafa, who had previously worked for a Narre Warren pallets company, ran across and punched the victim’s head and face while the victim was still seated.
The victim’s $1300 iPhone was grabbed from his hand. Mataafa pulled him out of the car and punched him in the face.
Mataafa demanded money from the fallen victim and searched through the Camry.
A victim’s housemate arrived on the scene, and was threatened by the co-offender’s handgun.
Both offenders, laughing, drove away with the stolen phone.
Mataafa pleaded guilty to what Judge Lisa Hannan regarded as “serious” examples of armed robbery and assault.
In sentencing on 6 August, Judge Hannan noted the use of a handgun, in company, in a public street at night against a vulnerable victim who was alone.
Mataafa had said that at the time he’d consumed 1 gram of ice and 16 stubbies of beer.
He had also been recently released on youth parole, Judge Hannan said.
His “disturbing” and “numerous” criminal record of violence included convictions for recklessly causing injury, assaulting an emergency worker on duty and aggravated burglary.
He had been involved in a violent incident in remand in November, leading to four months in solitary confinement, the court heard.
He was neither deterred nor rehabilitated by past sentences including a community corrections order and detention in a youth training centre, Judge Hannan said.
Several recent close-family tragedies had a “significant impact” on a depressed Mataafa, she noted.
According to a clinical psychologist, his offending was partially caused by poor impulse control as part of a previously undiagnosed ADHD condition.
Anger management, grief counselling and substance-abuse support were recommended.
He’d told the psychologist that he had been at times homeless, immersed in a “drug party scene” and “fighting on the streets”.
With his “crew”, he learnt that he had the capacity to hurt others. He “got violent”.
Judge Hannan said the still youthful Mataafa’s rehabilitation prospects were “no more than guarded” but was the best protection for the community in the future.
“The reality is you will need substantial assistance to make what I think will be a challenging transition back in the community.”
His jail term includes a minimum non-parole period of three years. He had already served 355 days in custody.
He was ordered to compensate the victim for the stolen phone.
The co-offender had his charges withdrawn by the prosecution.
