A jail sentence for a series of pursuits in stolen cars might just be the start of time behind bars for Raymond Williams.
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The 28-year-old last week pleaded guilty to 12 charges including armed robbery and dangerous driving, for his part in an incident that ended in he and co-offender Dean Honeysett being arrested at gunpoint on the Lincoln Causeway.
Wodonga County Court heard Williams was the aggressor during the pair’s series of crimes on March 31. When he crashed a stolen Toyota Yaris into another parked ute, after driving along the wrong side of Bandiana Link Road, he needed another vehicle.
Williams brandished a knife to threaten a man at his Thomas Mitchell Drive landscaping business and took the keys to his Holden Rodeo.
His next victims were a man and his five-year-old son at their Fern Avenue home in Wodonga.
They were at home at 12.20pm when Williams used a hammer to smash the glass panel on the front door, but when the man yelled out, the burglar looked through the panel and fled back to the car.
Honeysett was what Judge Marilyn Harbison called the “getaway driver”.
He tried to ram his way through traffic stopped at a red light on the Lincoln Causeway in a final attempt to evade police, but the pair was eventually arrested.
Barrister Diana Price said Williams had an intellectual disability, drug addiction and extreme depression.
She asked for a “moderated” jail sentence so her client could address his issues.
He will also be wanted by police north of the border.
Prosecutor David O’Doherty said the Toyota Yaris was originally stolen from an Albury man with Asperger syndrome.
“He was held against his will, assaulted by the accused and his associates over a number of days and was forced to withdraw money from his bank accounts,” he said.
The car came to the attention of Wodonga police after Williams failed to indicate.
“One day he’ll need to face court in Albury for whatever charges eventuate out of that offending,” Ms Price said.
“The logic of the offending is completely absent, they would have known the police were after them … it was foolish and dangerous.”
She said Williams was affected by the drug ice on the day of the pursuits and had a history of substance abuse starting with petrol sniffing as a child.
“He agrees the people involved would have felt scared and he’s sorry for what he’s done.”
Mr O’Doherty said the charges were too serious for anything other than a lengthy jail term.
Judge Harbison will hand down her decision on Williams’ sentence in court on November 14.
