A Sebastopol man was allegedly held at knife point while two men rummaged through his room, a committal hearing has heard.
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The 20-year-old man gave evidence about the incident, involving co-accused Michael Phillips and Shaun Schoefbaenker, at the three-hour hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Thursday.
It is alleged the two men entered the victim’s bedroom on April 5, with Schoefbaenker allegedly waving a knife in his face while Phillips held the door closed.
“He (Schoefbaenker, who was unknown to the victim) reached over and punched me,” the victim told the court.
“Michael (who is known to the victim) said where’s your money and they started searching my room.”
Concerned for other family members in the house, the victim asked the men to come with him to the garage where more demands for money were made by Phillips while Schoefbaenker looked through things.
A tussle between the victim and Phillips broke out before the victim was forced to stop Schoefbaenker allegedly lunging at him with the knife. Schoefbaenker, who faces 20 charges including armed robbery, left the garage, with Phillips, who faces nine charges, grabbing a bong before leaving. It is alleged a number of items including a phone, iPod and cannabis were also stolen.
But both men’s defence counsel questioned the strength of the armed robbery charges, telling the court there was little to no evidence some of the items were actually taken.
Phillips’ lawyer, John Desmond, said while there was a case for theft of the bong, there was no evidence of a forceful demand or evidence of a weapon on his client that formed the basis of an armed robbery.
Schoefbaenker’s lawyer, David Gray, added there was no evidence any of the items were stolen, with the iPod’s owner telling police he thought the iPod was taken.
Magistrate Gregory Robinson said he did not accept it was not classified as an armed robbery because the victims didn’t see the items being taken. Phillips and Schoefbaenker were committed to stand trial in the County Court. Both men pleaded not guilty.
In a separate case a man who crashed his Mercedes into a tree along the Western Highway at Melton and returned a blood alcohol level of 0.130 has been taken off the road for 13 months.
The former truck driver, who had no prior history, was also fined $750.
