By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Pakenham man with two phones has argued he wasn’t carrying a “pinging” phone that linked him to an aggravated burglary and two car thefts.
Emmanuel Lual, 19, argued there was a lack of evidence placing him in a stolen 2019 Jaguar in Noble Park about 4.14am on 17 March.
Police say the driver attempted to ram them and “continued to bait” police officers.
Lual’s mobile phone ‘pinged’ from a mobile tower 200 metres away around the same time, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard on 29 June.
The car and a 2019 Range Rover, both with GPS tracking, had been stolen during an aggravated home burglary in Kalorama that night, police told the court.
Lual’s phone was allegedly ‘pinging’ off towers in the Mt Dandenong and Silvan area between 1am and 2.54am.
The Range Rover was found abandoned in Narre Warren, with the Jaguar and Lual’s phone both pinging in the vicinity, according to police.
When police approached Lual and three associates in the vehicle in Cranbourne North that morning, they refused to exit, a police summary stated.
A co-accused driver allegedly revved and reversed at high speed, launching the Jag over another vehicle and causing it to be “partially suspended in the air”.
Police say they wedged a car under the Jag to prevent escape. They used OC spray to force the four occupants out of the car.
Lual was allegedly found with a satchel carrying property stolen from three aggravated home burglaries in Kalorama that night.
They included a Mercedes Benz car key, three wallets, at least six bank cards, licenses and IDs.
Inside the Jag was Lual’s puffer jacket, which contained the Range Rover key, police claimed.
According to a police summary, Lual told police he was at a male’s house during the alleged break-ins and then caught an Uber to an associate’s house about 2am.
Defence lawyer Damian Fragapane said there were no witnesses, CCTV footage, fingerprint or DNA evidence implicating Lual in the burglaries and car thefts.
There was just mobile ‘pings’ from Lual’s phone that wasn’t on him at the time, Mr Fragapane argued.
He told the court that Lual had two phones. There were also “potential alibi witnesses”, he said.
Despite tight finances, Lual’s parents offered a $2000 surety. Lual was “absolutely cognisant” that if he breached his bail, they would lose the surety, the lawyer said.
Mr Fragapane listed several ‘exceptional circumstances’ in favour of bail such as Lual’s young age, his three months in remand so far and his stable family home.
He’d suffered depression, anxiety and drug use disorders, as well as a spinal injury at sport, being bullied at school, assaulted by Sudanese peers, and a recent close-family tragedy.
Police opposed bail, and Corrections Victoria was unwilling to supervise Lual’s bail due to a corrections breach, the court heard.
On 8 July, magistrate Suzette Doojtes granted bail on the back of available CISP treatment and supervision as well as the surety.
She noted Lual’s ”extremely serious” alleged offending, his relevant priors as an adult and the fact he was on two CCOs at the time.
However, he was also young, was in his first stint in custody, had a supportive family, faced legal delays and had complied with supervised bail in the past.
Lual‘s bail conditions included a night curfew, complying with the CISP program and not associating with the three co-accused.
He was bailed to appear for monitoring at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court in August.
