By Cam Lucadou-Wells
An armed man left a creepy, obscene note on a stranger’s front door and then stared at her house from a nearby park bench for nearly an hour, a court has heard.
The female resident had heard suspicious rustling in nearby bushes as she put rubbish out at home on a late Sunday afternoon, police told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 12 November.
At 11pm, she heard a knock on the door and discovered the derogatory note left in the security screen.
About 45 minutes later, police found the accused on the bench and in possession of a knife – something that he claimed to use in his chef work.
In an interview the man told Endeavour Hills police he didn’t know the victim from a “bar of soap” but she’d acted in a “suggestive” way.
He had been “tired” and “not thinking properly” but conceded his note was “pretty f***ing s***”. It was “out of character”, he told police.
The man had been living in his car, which was impounded the same day of the incident, the court heard.
As a result, he’d drunk heavily, was walking through the victim’s neighbourhood and didn’t have clear recollection of the offending, the court heard.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said it was “line ball” whether police had proven long enough duration for a stalking charge.
Since the incident, the man had been jailed, released and was complying with a community corrections order for unrelated offending, the court heard.
He was yet to embark on alcohol and drug treatment assessment and a positive lifestyle course as part of the order.
Mr Vandersteen indicated that he was likely to sentence the man to an 18-month treatment-only CCO, pending a risk assessment for his latest “out of character” offending.
The matter was adjourned until 13 November.
