Jai O’Donnell, 33, of Shepparton, successfully applied for bail in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court after police alleged he was one of the three unidentified men involved.
He is charged with aggravated carjacking, assault, intentionally causing injury, possessing a firearm while a prohibited person, affray and failing to provide access to a data storage device.
Shepparton Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Anthony De Cicco told the court that police discovered messages between Mr O’Donnell and a man from the Melbourne suburb of Truganina when they seized the Truganina man’s phone during a search warrant on May 31.
The messages said there were “easy pickings” of “a mad earn” of $100,000 worth of gear, including a Ducati motorbike, “pot”, cash and the need for a “Rosco” — which police say refers to a gun — to get someone to open a safe, Sen Constable De Cicco said.
The court was told the victim was lured to a woman’s Shepparton house.
CCTV footage played during the bail application showed a masked man hit the victim with a metal baseball bat or pole multiple times before two other unidentified men approached the victim at about 1.30am on April 29.
One of the offenders hit the victim again with the metal pole while holding a black sawn-off firearm and said, “give me the money now, give me the drugs now”, the court heard.
The victim told the man, “I don’t have anything, it’s all in the bag”, before he hit him in the head with the metal pole.
The three offenders left the house with the victim’s backpack and wheeled the man’s motorbike off after they couldn’t start it, and later dumped it in the street, Sen Constable Anthony De Cicco said.
The victim’s leg was broken in the attack, and Sen Constable De Cicco said the head injuries the man had would have been “severe, if not lethal” if he was not wearing a motorbike helmet.
The court heard Mr O’Donnell told police what happened was helping the community and was “doing the police’s job for them” when he was arrested on August 1.
The court heard that he refused to unlock his phone for police and told them he had nothing to do with the incident and that he would’ve been home at the time of the offending.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Deryn Boote said Mr O’Donnell was on bail at the time of the offending for an assault at the Aussie Hotel in Shepparton, and the gun from the incident hadn’t been located.
He had previously applied for bail, unsuccessfully, in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on August 2.
Mr O’Donnell’s defence solicitor, Emma Gray, said her client would be a vulnerable adult in custody because he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He was also grieving the death of his father and brother, with whom he had a “complicated” relationship, Ms Gray said.
She said the matter had triable issues, such as no-one being identified from the CCTV footage of the incident, and there was no evidence the motorbike was stolen because police located it later when Mr O’Donnell was remanded in custody.
Magistrate Simon Zebrowski said the prosecution made a strong case, and there were “too many coincidences” for Mr O’Donnell not to be involved in the offending; the only question was how.
Although Mr O’Donnell didn’t have “the worst priors in the history of the world”, it was clear that this offending was not spontaneous and involved organised crime, Mr Zebrowski said.
Mr Zebrowski said it was not an easy application for bail but decided exceptional circumstances had been reached.
Mr Zebrowski told Mr O’Donnell it would be the “easiest decision in the world to lock you up if you reoffend”.
Among Mr O’Donnell’s bail conditions were that he does not contact any witnesses involved, not use any drugs of dependence, comply with a curfew of 10pm to 6am, comply with the Court Integrated Services Program, report to police four times a week, notify police within 24 hours of getting a new mobile phone and provide them with access to it if required, live in Shepparton, surrender any travel documents and not leave Victoria or Australia.
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