Stratus Desacada, 51, formerly of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Melbourne County Court to attempted armed robbery and false imprisonment, as well as a summary charge of failing to answer bail.
The court heard the victim was a contractor for a farm and had $20,000 in cash on him to pay fruit pickers on the day of the incident on October 14, 2021.
A subcontractor the then-45-year-old victim used to pay the workers had called the victim to come to Longstaff St in Shepparton to give him the money.
Desacada got into the car while the victim was waiting in Longstaff St and told him to give him the money.
Prosecutor Jordan Vassis said Desacada had a diamond tester in his pants and was holding it to make it look like a gun, with the victim believing it was a gun.
He also had a large kitchen knife with him, but did not show it to the victim.
Believing he was going to die, the victim accelerated into the BP service station on the Goulburn Valley Hwy at Kialla hoping customers could help him, but no-one was there.
He then drove into the Toyota dealership on the Goulburn Valley Hwy and fled from the car, running into the service centre yelling “help, help, somebody help me. I’ve just been hijacked. Call the police,” Mr Vassis said.
Desacada fled from the car empty-handed and hid in bushland while police looked for him.
Phone checks on Desacada’s phone found the subcontractor the victim was to meet that day had been in frequent contact with the victim, while there were also phone calls between Desacada and the subcontractor on the day of the incident, with the last one only four minutes before the victim fled into Toyota dealership.
When Desacada was found by police 14 days after the incident, he made “full and frank admissions”, Mr Vassis said.
In a police interview, he told police a “Malaysian set everything up” and that a man named “Mike” asked him to do the robbery.
Desacada’s partner gave evidence to the court about problems their three-year-old child had, including that he did not speak.
A Malaysian resident herself, Desacada’s partner told how she had been refused a protection visa but had appealed it in 2021 and was waiting until her matter was heard by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Meanwhile, she is on a bridging visa, but that means she is also not entitled to any Centrelink benefits and would not be entitled to any childcare subsidy if Desacada was in prison because they received it in his name, as he is from the Philippines but is now an Australian resident.
Without the childcare subsidy, it would cost $160 a day in childcare, the woman told the court.
Desacada’s defence barrister Stacey Stanley is trying to keep her client out of prison, saying the hardship of him being there would be “enormous” on his partner and child.
The prosecutor, however, asked for a combination sentence that would include prison and a community corrections order.
Judge Richard Maidment said he wanted to hear more about any supports that would be available to Desacada’s wife and son — including if the child would be eligible for a carer — under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
However, Ms Stanley said this information would not be known until he had met with a paediatrician, with the child having an appointment on February 5 after having been on a waiting list for a year for it.
Judge Maidment said Desacada’s life had “changed dramatically” since the offence and that he had “reasonable prospects of rehabilitation”.
However, he said the offence was “planned” albeit “ham-fisted, and ill-considered, and not well executed”.
“But, nevertheless, somebody was put in fear,” he said.
Judge Maidment adjourned the court case until March, to allow for more information about the supports available to Desacada’s son and partner if Desacada were to be imprisoned.
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