By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Dandenong drug-fueled and disqualified driver who “dangerously” and “reprehensibly” led police on a hair-raising chase through the south east has been jailed.
Jack Audino, 24, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to a raft of charges arising from a five-day crime spree in October 2020.
They included five thefts, making a threat to kill, robbery, reckless conduct endangering life and a prohibited person with an imitation gun.
In that time, he’d stolen two cars left running in home driveways in Dandenong and Hallam, taken an EFTPOS machine from a Dandenong outlet, used stolen credit cards and robbed an Uber driver of an Hawaiian pizza.
He also broke into a car at Dandenong Seventh Day Adventist Church, stealing $50,000 cash and cameras.
In the late morning of 10 October 2020, Police Air Wing followed Audino as he erratically drove a stolen VW Golf in Cranbourne and across the South East for about an hour.
Audino reached 172 km/h in an 80 km/h road-works zone on Monash Freeway.
Several times, he ran red lights, drove the wrong way into traffic, swerved in and out of lanes, and almost caused several crashes.
A woman pushing a baby in a pram crossed a road just before the stolen Golf approached.
In Armadale, Audino was seen holding an imitation handgun on the vehicle’s dash before he ran a red light.
He and a co-accused were arrested by police in a multi-level car park at South Wharf shopping centre in Melbourne’s CBD.
Audino threw away an imitation handgun from his pants as he was brought under arrest. He was holding $28,355 cash – believed to have been stolen from the car in Dandenong the day before.
His co-offender held $17,100.
The stolen camera equipment was found in the Golf.
Audino was taken to The Alfred hospital due to drug intoxication. He’d told police he’d taken six Xanax that day.
In sentencing on 31 March, Judge Patricia Riddell noted Audino’s serious, extensive criminal history.
She said Audino’s “dangerous” and “reprehensible” driving at high speed while under the influence warranted significant punishment.
The “serious spate” of offending, including violent robbery and a threat to kill, must be met by a jail term, she said.
However, the sentence was moderated due to Audino’s intellectual disability, as well as complex mental health issues including ADHD, anxiety, a substance abuse disorder and psychotic episodes.
Judge Riddell noted Audino suffered post-traumatic stress from an attempted kidnapping as a child and a serious motorbike accident.
Audino was jailed for 19 months followed by a 12-month community corrections order, with supervision, drug and mental health treatment, NDIS support and judicial monitoring.
His jail term included 537 days spent in pre-sentence custody.
He was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
