By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A carjacker who robbed four online sellers, including two at knife-point in Melbourne’s East and South-East, has been jailed.
Lachlan Tre-Week-Kane, 25, of Wantirna, pleaded guilty at the County Court of Victoria to a spree of aggravated carjacking, six counts of theft, handling stolen goods, bail offences and driving unlicensed.
In December 2021, Tre-Week-Kane stole a car diagnostic tool, two VW Golfs, a Holden SSV ute while meeting the online vendors.
The offences occurred across Melbourne, including a car theft in Springvale and a petrol drive-off in Clyde.
In one case, he pulled a knife on a Golf owner during a test drive and told him to “get the f*** out of the car you dog”.
At another ’inspection’, Tre-Week-Kane reversed the owner’s ute, then drove forward into the owner and fled in the vehicle. The owner suffered minor injuries.
At the time, Tre-Week-Kane was unlicensed and on bail. He was said to have been overwhelmed by a desire to possess cars
He has been found guilty of 78 previous offences, jailed five times and twice breached community corrections orders. He’d committed multiple bail and disqualified driving offences.
Judge Peter Lauritsen noted the man’s extremely low IQ, drug-taking, ADHD and autism-spectrum diagnoses impaired his ability to make rational decisions and to regulate his behaviour.
It heightened the need to protect the community from him, the judge noted.
A psychologist assessed Tre-Week-Kane as a high risk of violent reoffending. This risk had receded while in custody – away from his social group, financial pressures and the need for self-gratification.
Judge Lauritsen said as a young person, the accused had capacity to change but his prospects were “uncertain but tending towards the positive”.
Tre-Week-Kane was jailed for up to five years and two months, including 524 days already served in pre-sentence remand.
He will be eligible for parole after serving two years and eight months.
