By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A former foreman has pleaded guilty to a carjacking in which he allegedly rammed the victim’s vehicle and wielded a crowbar outside a Dandenong workshop late at night.
Ian James Stanton, 44, potentially faces a minimum mandatory three years’ jail after pleading guilty to aggravated carjacking with an offensive weapon.
He also pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to attempted theft of a different car, handling stolen goods and trafficking methamphetamine.
According to the prosecution, Stanton with a co-accused female carried out the carjacking late at night in Greaves Street Dandenong on 17 May 2021.
Sitting in his Hyundai just after work, the victim was on his phone to family members in Afghanistan.
As the female co-accused spoke with the victim, Stanton reversed a Holden Jackaroo into the victim’s car.
When the victim got out, Stanton allegedly beat him several times with a crowbar before chasing him down the road in the Jackaroo.
The co-accused followed in the victim’s Hyundai.
Both of the accused were on bail, including a night curfew at the time, according to prosecutors.
They were arrested the next day at a Doveton home, with police discovering nine plastic bags of ‘ice’.
According to Stanton’s defence lawyer, the carjacking took place due to the co-accused’s “completely misplaced belief” that the victim had offended against her.
In a statement, the victim in his 30s told the court he’d suffered physically, emotionally and financially as a result of the carjacking.
He’d assumed he’d be “safe” in Australia but his trust and confidence had eroded into a state of fear, flashbacks and anxiety.
The victim stated he suffered ongoing lower back pain from a displaced disc in his spine.
Once able to take 20-kilometre treks, the father has to take breaks during short walks and can no longer carry his kids on his shoulders.
His business partnership had collapsed and he couldn’t pay rent or “basic needs” for his family due to not being able to work.
“It feels that my life is upside-down.
“I fear I can no longer afford to live here and that I will need to take my children who grew up here to an unsafe place such as Afghanistan.”
The victim’s injuries were a contested issue, with his victim impact statement describing injuries additional to his police statement.
According to the prosecution summary, the victim suffered only soft-tissue injuries to his head, back and abdomen.
Stanton’s defence barrister argued that the injuries weren’t supported by any medical documents.
Further, Stanton pleaded guilty to a charge of carjacking while wielding an offensive weapon rather than with causing injury.
Stanton faced a mandatory minimum jail term of three years.
Prosecutor Philip Teo said no special reason existed to exempt Stanton from the minimum.
A “serious” jail term was warranted for a car-jacking that had an element of pre-planning, he submitted.
The defence lawyer said there was special reason – stemming from Stanton’s “profound” childhood deprivation, which was “substantial and compelling, exceptional and rare”.
The lawyer described him as a “proud” First Nations man with a “difficult and traumatic history… beyond most person’s contemplation”.
Drinking at six, severely beaten, rejected and neglected at home, he left to live by himself near train tracks when just 13.
During a long period of working and stability, he managed up to 60 employees as a foreman.
Then in 2015, he injured his spine when he slipped on black ice and fell four metres at work. He relapsed into drug use, his relationship collapsed, he was again homeless and back in front of courts.
“He’s a man not without hope.”
Stanton’s “low-level” trafficking consisted of 3.8 grams of ice in nine “tiny” bags, and discussion of a “$50” deal, the defence lawyer argued.
Stanton and the co-accused are set for sentencing at the Victorian County Court on 12 May.
