By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Shaun and Melinda Butler are two faces of what Casey council describes as an “on-going escalation” of home invasions in the municipality.
The Berwick couple watched in the public gallery as the council voted unanimously at a special meeting on 1 September to continue lobbying for more police and other ramped-up law-and-order measures.
The Butlers remain traumatised several months after burglars crept into their unlocked housing estate home early one morning as three children slept with open bedroom doors.
The intruders stole phones, tablets, house and car keys – and then both cars.
One of the recovered cars was crashed and written-off, the other attracted three red-light and speed-camera infringements.
“We have lived there nine years. We never imagined this would be the last place this would happen,” Ms Butler said.
“People say they sleep with keys under their pillow. I say don’t do it – they’ll come find them.”
Two weeks later, the burglars tried to break in again but were deterred by changed locks and a new security door.
Two juveniles out of seven suspects were arrested. One of the teens – on bail at the time over charges of bashing an elderly couple – was then bailed again.
His lawyer successfully argued for a more lenient night curfew so as to not interfere with the teen’s love-life, Ms Butler bitterly recalls.
The Butlers’ insurer refused to pay excess on the stolen vehicles because the offenders were juveniles.
Mr Butler, medicated for a subsequent nervous breakdown, sleeps “on edge” and regularly checks out noises outside at night. Within reaching distance from the bed is a cricket bat.
All up, the Butlers are out of pocket about $5000. Worse is they just don’t feel safe, Mr Butler said.
Mayor Sam Aziz, who launched the council motion, said Casey was facing “nothing short of a security epidemic”.
Cr Aziz noted that 26 homes in another Berwick housing estate had been burgled in the past fortnight.
One of the victims was a parish priest and family who were not only ransacked but had paint and eggs smeared on walls and furniture while they were at church on a Sunday morning, he said.
Under the special motion, the council will lobby Chief Magistrate of Victoria Peter Lauritsen for tougher sentencing.
It will also express “extreme disappointment” at the trialled closure of Endeavour Hills police station on weekend nights, and call for a new station at Clyde North.
Police Minister Lisa Neville and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton will also be lobbied.
The motion also echoes La Trobe MP Jason Wood’s calls for a federal-state policing taskforce to combat violent street gangs and for dual citizens to be deported if they commit a violent crime in a gang setting and receive a jail sentence.
It also congratulated the State Government for legislating new offences such as carjacking and home invasion with statutory minimum sentences for an increase in police numbers for Casey.
