By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A drug-impaired Pakenham man has been found asleep behind the wheel of a stolen car laden with stolen goods in a railway station car park, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court has heard.
The unlicensed Christopher James Dike, 30, had admitted to taking ‘juice’ otherwise known as 1,4-butanediol before driving six kilometres from Cheltenham and pulling over to sleep at Bentleigh station on 16 January.
Earlier that day, the Mazda CX9 station wagon had been stolen about 4.30am from a Pakenham home.
The vehicle side-swiped another car in a ‘hit-and-run’ in Narre Warren South five hours later.
Dike told police he was likely to have been a passenger in the Mazda during the crash.
He would have been too sleepy and drug-affected to drive, he told police.
From the station wagon, police seized property from burglaries and thefts from cars in Narre Warren and Officer.
The stolen goods included a Boston Red Sox baseball cap, two Australian passports, three Indian passports, phone, camera, iPad, boxes of costume jewellery, fuel card, garage remote and wallet.
He was also charged with using the car owner’s bank card to buy $30 of fast food in Berwick South that day.
At a court hearing on 1 June, Dike pleaded guilty to contravening bail and his community corrections order, as well as drug, car theft and handling stolen goods charges.
He had been remanded in custody since 16 January, the court heard.
Dike was further remanded for sentencing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 19 July.
