By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Hampton Park man was set to be bailed after using a Facebook buy-and-sell page to lure and violently rob unsuspecting victims.
Mabil Naghoy, 20, pleaded guilty to five robberies in which he and other males ambushed and stole two iPhones and $6220 cash from online buyers and sellers late last year.
On Boxing Day, a father – responding to a ‘Facebook Marketplace’ ad selling an iPhone X – met with Naghoy and was bashed in front of his three children.
A 13-year-old girl tried in vain to protect her father during the attack.
The man’s primary school age sons, watching from the car were said to be “extremely traumatised” by the event, prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Tim Barlow told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 5 February.
After punching and kicking the man’s head, Naghoy grabbed $1200 cash from the car’s glovebox in front of the boys.
Naghoy and his associates set up meetings with victims in Hampton Park, Dandenong, Sunshine West and Melbourne CBD.
They either offered iPhones for sale or responded to sellers’ posts on Facebook online.
Naghoy committed the last three robberies – including the Boxing Day assault – while on bail.
He was on a community corrections order at the time.
Defence lawyer Daniel Ajak told the court that a “sorry” Naghoy had got in with the “wrong crowd” during a study gap-year.
The accused met some of his co-offenders on “social media and stuff”, some while taking part in a South Sudanese basketball tournament in Melbourne’s West.
He had excelled at school and toured Brazil as part of a state junior soccer team, the court heard.
This month, Naghoy was set to study business management course at RMIT University.
“He’s very ashamed that he had to put his parents through this,” Mr Ajak said.
Watching the hearing on video-link, Naghoy had spent the past 40 days in remand at Ravenhall adult prison.
“He definitely has the potential (as) someone who can turn things right,” the lawyer said.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said he intended to defer Naghoy’s sentence, bailing him to his parents’ home and to undergo Youth Justice supervision.
As part of his bail, Naghoy was ordered to report to police three times a week, enrol in education, not associate with co-offenders and obey a night curfew.
Mr Vandersteen noted Naghoy had committed “voluminous” “high-end” offending – which would have been “horrific” for each victim.
He said he needed to balance Naghoy’s rehabilitation with protection of the community.
“The purpose of deferral is to have you engage.
“If you engage, if you go back to school, if you stay with your family, don’t commit any further offences, then … you will not return to custody.
“However if you commit a further offence and don’t comply with bail conditions, it’s likely that you will receive a custodial sentence.”
The judge took into account Naghoy’s “very good” family, the lack of relevant priors and his remand time in adult custody.
Naghoy’s emotional father profusely thanked Mr Vandersteen for “giving back my son”.
He said he’d come to Australia to provide a good education for his children.
“I’ll take care of my son.”
Naghoy was remanded to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 6 February for a Youth Justice assessment.
He was expected to then be released on bail that day.
