An armed, drugged-up carjacker who was among a group that preyed on an Uber Eats driver delivering a cheeseburger in Doveton has been jailed.
Bailey Foehn, 22, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to aggravated carjacking, possessing 1,4-butanediol, driving while suspended and possessing a prohibited weapon.
His drug-fueled co-offender Zoe Voice, then 22, made the Uber order for a Maccas burger on her phone just before 2am on 27 November last year.
It was part of an unsophisticated plan to lure and rob the victim in the street and under the cover of darkness, sentencing judge Wendy Wilmoth said on 31 October.
The driver was alone when an armed and masked Foehn – in company with three others – demanded the driver’s phone and keys.
The victim complied, thinking Foehn held a knife, which was later found to be an extendable baton.
Foehn then sped off in the delivery-driver’s Toyota Yaris, with Voice in the passenger seat.
The victim – an international student who had worked and saved hard for the car and phone – had tried to open the driver-side door.
He was threatened by another male in the group, holding what appeared to be a knife or sword.
“If you try to argue with me, I’ll f*** you – so go away,” the male said.
The Yaris stopped several hundred metres away. Voice swapped into the driver’s seat due to Foehn being unable to control the car.
Later that morning, police spotted Voice erratically driving the car at excessive speeds through several Cranbourne West streets.
Police used stop-sticks to deflate all four tyres of the Yaris, and pursued with lights and sirens.
However Voice continued driving on deteriorating tyres, until coming to a stop on a median strip in Evans Road.
A bottle of 1,4-butanediol was found in the car, which Foehn admitted was his.
In a police interview, Foehn stated he “didn’t intend to harm the bloke”.
He didn’t know why he drove off with the victim’s car, but it was the “dumbest” thing he’d done.
Judge Wilmoth regarded Foehn’s offending as a “serious example of a serious offence”.
At the time, he was on ‘ice’, GHB and cannabis and said to be trying to impress Voice and his peers with his offending.
On the other hand, the victim “lost so much and still suffers emotionally”, Judge Wilmoth noted.
Left out on the street without a car or phone at night, he called out for help. No one came out to assist, so he knocked on a resident’s door to call triple-0.
Since the incident, he had felt completely alone and unprotected, Judge Wilmoth said.
The threats with a weapon still played on his mind each day, no longer left his home at night and slept with lights on.
He did not recover his stolen phone, which he is still paying off.
Voice, 23, had been sentenced on 30 June by Judge Wilmoth to three years and three months’ jail, with an 18 month non-parole period, for carjacking and dangerous driving while pursued by police.
Foehn, being guilty of aggravated carjacking, faced a mandatory non-parole period of three years.
However, Judge Wilmoth accepted there were special circumstances due to Foehn’s mental impairment, and waived the mandatory term.
His impairment included a complex mix of ADHD, paranoia and depressive disorders – which a psychologist stated were significant factors in his offending.
They contributed to impulsivity, poor decision making and a heightened need for peer approval.
His childhood deprivation, youthfulness and difficulties coping in adult remand were also noted.
Foehn was jailed for three-and-a-half years, including a two year non-parole period.
He was ordered to compensate the victim $1074.
