By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Dandenong woman armed with a hammer and a Taser who terrified five residents in a home invasion in Noble Park has been jailed for up to six years.
Cassandra McLean, 29, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to two counts of home invasion, false imprisonment, theft and escaping police custody.
She and three other armed thieves broke into a house and its bungalow in Marshall Street about 8am on 17 July 2021, tying up, gagging and threatening a family, a friend and a tenant while a fifth offender kept look-out.
McLean later told police that she thought the residents were “in on” the disappearance of her ex-partner, who used to live in the bungalow, sentencing judge Gabriele Cannon said on 13 December.
Despite her claim it was a “vengeful” attack, she and the group seemed more intent on stealing items including the family’s car and more than 20 phones, electronic tablets, laptops, hard drives, passports, jewellery and other possessions.
“If it was an act of vengeance, it does not stand you in good light.”
It was a “brazen” and “premeditated” 15-minute invasion by a masked group while many of the occupants were asleep, Judge Cannon said.
McLean and her partner Jason Bartkowski, then 47, broke into the main house with a crowbar while two unknown intruders stormed the bungalow.
The female bungalow tenant was working on a computer when threatened by a masked male holding a knife asking her about the whereabouts of “your husband” and “the gun”.
She was bound with duct tape, gagged with toilet paper and led into the main house.
In the house, McLean and Bartkowski woke and led three occupants from their bedrooms into the lounge room.
McLean threatened them with a hammer and activated a Taser, while her co-intruder wielded a Taser and knife.
A 32-year-old man was woken by Bartkowski punching him on the head. He saw Bartkowski wielding a 20-centimetre kitchen knife, demanding “the key” and “the money” and threatening to stab him.
An unknown intruder with a sickle threatened to cut off the man’s ears. He and his adult sister were bound and gagged.
Their 61-year-old father crept out of his bedroom window and ran to his neighbour’s house calling for help.
The intruders loaded their stolen loot into the family’s Honda CRV and fled in the vehicle, which was recovered by police about six weeks later.
On 13 September, McLean escaped police who sought to arrest her at a Dandenong home.
She was uncuffed to put her aggressive dog in the back yard but instead she let the dog loose in the house.
In the mayhem, she ran out the back door and over the back fence. She was found hiding by a car shortly after.
Judge Cannon noted the “immense” impact on the home invasion victims, who were since plagued by anxiety, sleeplessness and hyper-vigilance.
“It takes no imagination to know the victims would have been terrified.”
McLean had relevant but “fairly limited” and less serious priors involving drugs, weapons and assaults, and hadn’t been previously jailed.
She was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of an “extremely” deprived childhood exposed to violence, drug abuse and homelessness. Her own heroin and meth addiction was a way of coping.
These factors reduced her moral culpability but Judge Cannon said she must also focus on the community’s protection and denunciation.
When released, McLean would require a high level of community support. Her rehabilitation prospects were “guardedly fair”.
McLean was jailed for up to six years with a three-and-a-half-year non-parole period. Her term includes 456 days in pre-sentence remand.
