By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Cranbourne North building renovator has been found hiding in his ceiling by police after allegedly threatening to kill his former father-in-law at Casey Central car park.
On 8 May, the accused – while on a community corrections order – had allegedly walked past the victim and his daughter as they left a supermarket.
He then turned around, yelled: “Hey, f***ing p***ters!” and made threats to kill.
The accused had just been convicted for similar offending in February and April.
He was barred by intervention order from either approaching or communicating with the father-in-law.
Three days later, police knocked and waited outside his home for about 90 minutes, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court was told on 3 July.
After being found in the ceiling, he then resisted attempts to handcuff him by “aggressively” holding the front of his own shirt, police prosecutor Senior Constable Jaimie Jeffs said.
In a police interview, he claimed he was in hiding because he feared police had been sent to bash him.
He denied all allegations at the shopping centre, claiming the victim had made threats against him.
Defence lawyer Aaron Eidelson sought a sentence indication for his client, who had been remanded for 53 days for the “inadvertent encounter” at Casey Central.
Magistrate Barry Schultz noted the man had been only just released from 56 days in remand in March and April for similar “persistent” offending.
“What does it take for him to realise these (corrections and intervention) orders are to be complied with?”
Mr Eidelson said the accused “certainly understands now”, recounting the man had been stabbed 16 times during a recent prison assault and spent four days in hospital.
It was “not healthy” for him to spend further time in custody, he said.
The accused’s renovation business had also since lost all of its contracts, Mr Eidelson said.
“He has paid a very expensive price for this incarceration.”
Mr Schultz said the man’s 53 days in remand since his arrest didn’t “come close” to an appropriate sentence, he said.
“On the face of it, a term of imprisonment of six months would appear to be in the ball park.”
The matter was adjourned to consider Corrections Victoria’s view on the corrections order’s breach.
The man will re-appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on 12 July.
