A man brandished a knife as he carjacked a car in a Shepparton street, as the victim waited for his wife who was in the supermarket, a court has heard.
Gregory Maurice Hutchinson, 41, appeared in a video link from prison as he pleaded guilty in the County Court online to aggravated carjacking with an offensive weapon and three counts of theft.
He also pleaded guilty to the summary charges of possessing a controlled weapon and four counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail.
Prosecutor Natalie Burnett told the court the victim was sitting in a car on the corner of Maude and Ashenden streets in Shepparton while his wife went into Farm Fresh supermarket shortly after 6.30pm on September 27 last year.
Hutchinson approached the man, first asking for a cigarette, but when the man refused he reached into the car and tried to grab the car keys from the ignition, but his arm was hit away by the victim.
Hutchinson then raised a knife to the victim and said “get out”, Ms Burnett said.
The victim got out the driver’s door and ran to the front passenger side where he grabbed a bag that contained his phone and passport, before Hutchinson drove off in the black Honda Civic.
Ms Burnett said about 14 minutes earlier Hutchinson had been at Coles supermarket where it is believed he stole the knife.
The court heard, about 20 minutes after the carjacking, Hutchinson stole $56.22 worth of petrol for the stolen vehicle from the Liberty service station in Benalla Rd, Shepparton.
Later than night he stole a further $28.90 worth of fuel from the BP service station in Wangaratta after attempting to use the victim’s BP rewards card, which was declined.
On October 4, Hutchinson stole another $20 worth of fuel from the BP service station in Swan St, Richmond.
Hutchinson was on bail at the time of all the offences.
Ms Burnett told the court Hutchinson handed himself in to police at the Melbourne West Police Station on October 5, and told them he had stolen the car and that it was in South Melbourne.
Hutchinson’s barrister Sai Ranjit told the court that while aggravated carjacking was serious, the “offending itself falls within the lower end” of seriousness.
He argued a knife was “produced”.
“It is different to aggravated carjackings where a knife is put to the body,” Mr Ranjit said.
He said at the time Hutchinson, who has previously worked as an apprentice plasterer, at abattoirs and labouring, but was unemployed at the time, was using methamphetamines and GHB and was paranoid because he was giving evidence in another trial.
“It’s a distinct event for a brief moment, given his drug abuse and paranoid state he was trying to obtain methadone,” Mr Ranjit said.
“At the time he was fixated on having to leave Shepparton for mental health and had no transport.”
Mr Ranjit said the carjacking was “unsophisticated” and “opportunistic”.
He also spoke of his client’s long-standing drug addiction, which started 26 years ago, and a mild acquired brain injury, which Mr Ranjit argued that in combination had a link to the offence.
Ms Burnett, however, argued that the offences were attributable to his drug use.
The court also heard the offending occurred about two weeks after Hutchinson was released from six months in prison.
Hutchinson will be sentenced on June 17.