By Cam Lucadou-Wells
TWO men on bail appeared in court after being arrested during an alleged attempted car-theft in Dandenong on 5 September.
Dylan Antony Lockley, 21, and Kallen McPhail, 24, were arrested shortly after midnight on 5 September, a court bail hearing heard.
A resident had been woken by a car horn and saw his Toyota Prado’s tail-lights come on as he checked his CCTV footage, informant Acting Sergeant Michael Harris told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
When police arrested the pair minutes later they admitted starting the vehicle.
McPhail was found in possession of ice, an ice pipe and multiple tools in his underpants on 5 September, the court was told.
He was wanted on three outstanding warrants for failing to appear on bail over car-theft and weapon charges.
McPhail, who told police he wanted to sleep in the Prado for the night, was homeless and sleeping in various cars, his lawyer told the court.
The accused, a daily ice user, had moved out of home to protect his family from his former associates, the lawyer said.
“These people are after him. They smashed the windows at his mother’s house on more than one occasion.
“He would very much like assistance from the court on (his ice) problem.”
He also faced charges over being a passenger in a stolen LandCruiser with no number plates that evaded police at Dandenong Basketball Stadium car park on 31 August.
During the vehicle’s escape, it drove at high speed on the stadium’s lawns to avoid stop sticks at the car park exit.
The police lights-and-siren pursuit was abandoned barely one kilometre later at Heatherton Road, but the vehicle was monitored by helicopter until it broke down at Safety Beach.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said McPhail didn’t seem to be dissociating from bad influences during his recent offences.
On hearing that McPhail wanted to go back to school and get off drugs, Mr Vandersteen said: “None of this is going to work unless he’s at home.”
Mr Vandersteen adjourned sentencing to the following day to hear from McPhail’s parents.
After his arrest on 5 September Lockley was found with three grams of methamphetamine inside a pocket in his jacket’s collar.
The unemployed applicant, a known drug user, was also accused of driving a car that had been stolen when a cleaner was robbed at a Cranbourne North pre-school car park on 29 August.
“If you don’t give me the keys I’ll stab you,” the unknown armed robber allegedly told the cleaner.
Lockley was allegedly spotted driving the stolen car with freshly stolen number plates at a car wash on 31 August.
The car was found burnt out in Cranbourne West at 6am the next day, the court was told.
Lockley told the bail hearing that he believed the aggravated burglary and car theft charges had been dropped due to a lack of evidence.
He said he was sorry to his “caring and supportive” family for “the stress I’ve caused them”.
“I hope you can grant me bail to prove to myself and my family I can change my ways and be a good person.”
At the time, Lockley was on a community corrections order and on bail for charges including aggravated burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and unlicensed driving.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen noted that Lockley had last been in court on 31 August as well as being subject to bail and a corrections order.
“I don’t doubt your genuineness. There’s no proper supports to reduce the risk of offending to an acceptable level.”
