A man facing charges stemming from an alleged armed robbery and attempted aggravated burglary in Shepparton last week shouted and screamed profanities at police in court on Monday.
Colin Charles, 36, from Shepparton, jumped up out of his seat and shouted at members of the courtroom when Magistrate Peter Mithen denied his bail, with close to a dozen family members and friends in the court shouting they loved him as he was removed from the dock.
The court was told the Victoria Police Air Wing, which was in Shepparton on Saturday night, was called to help locate the accused who was found driving recklessly through town following the alleged incidents of the night prior.
“The nature and seriousness of the accused's driving is deplorable and places the community in extreme risk. We cannot catch him when he is in a vehicle — someone will die. If it wasn’t for the air wing, we would have no hope in catching him,” Detective Senior Constable Paul Van Emmerik said.
“He has a consistent pattern of reoffending, he commits the same offences and avoids police by actively driving like a madman, he hit cars and would do anything to escape.”
Police allege they witnessed a Holden commodore sedan, driven by the accused, driving through Shepparton on the evening of August 15 at "a fast rate of speed".
“The air wing maintained observation of the vehicle which proceeded to drive recklessly approaching south Shepparton residential streets while driving at fast rate of speed,” Sen Constable Van Emmerik said.
Police, and the canine unit, later located and arrested Mr Charles at an address in town where police allege he had a "small quantity of methamphetamine" in his possession.
The court heard in the early hours of the morning on August 14, Mr Charles and a co-accused attempted to ram a vehicle multiple times which was travelling through Shepparton's CBD.
About 6.45 am that morning Charles and the co-accused attended an address in Kialla where their victim had also arrived.
“The victim was forced into the address and placed in the front sitting room — the accused and co-accused made demands for money and drugs to be handed over,” Sen Constable Van Emmerik said.
“The victim refused to hand over money and said he doesn’t have any drugs ... the accused said `I'll smash you if you don’t tell me’ and the co-accused lifted the baseball bat and struck him with force to the upper left arm.”
The court heard the accused and co-accused allegedly left the address with $1250 from the victim and his mobile phone.
Mr Charles is facing a total of 20 charges including unlawful imprisonment, assault with intent to rob, driving while disqualified and driving in a manner dangerous.
The accused's lawyer Ian Michaelson questioned some of the sworn evidence given by police, describing their case as being "cobbled" together.
Mr Michaelson called the accused's sister to the stand who said her brother resided at her address while he was on bail in March this year for unrelated offending, and had no breaches of his conditions during this time.
“He listens to me — I provide a safe stable home where he is comfortable, feels safe and knows he is not going to get harassed by the local police in the area,” she said.
Mr Michaelson argued his client should be released from bail due to exceptional circumstances, citing his intellectual disability, him being an indigenous person, and the delays to the legal system due to COVID-19.
“When you take all those matters into account (Mr Charles) has shown exceptional circumstances and the risk (of his release) can be addressed by living with his sister with a curfew,” he said.
Mr Mithen denied the accused bail, acknowledging his prior criminal history, non-compliance with previous court orders and the fact there was "likely" to be a custodial sentence if he was found guilty.
“He is a risk of endangering the community; I don’t believe (that risk) can be ameliorated by conditions,” he said.
No plea was entered.
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