Rodney Kilner fined for trespass, drug possession, police chase

A drug-addled man who tried to break in to Harvey Norman, just hours after leading police on a wild car chase has escaped jail.

Rodney Kilner, 46, pleaded guilty to a number of charges stemming from one wild weekend. Picture: Facebook.

A man who locked himself out of his car after a wild police chase and threw rocks through the doors of Harvey Norman has escaped jail.

Rodney Kilner, who has no fixed address, was convicted, fined $3000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months for his “bad decision making”.

Magistrate Peter Mellas said a “substantial” fine and “significant” time off the road was suitable punishment despite Kilner’s poor criminal history – including a 16-page criminal record.

“It’s very bad decision making in the circumstances,” Mr Mellas said.

Kilner pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Monday to trespassing, intentionally destroying property, drug possession and dangerous driving while pursued by police.

The court heard the 45-year-old failed to indicate and crossed onto the wrong side of the road during a police chase through Bannockburn on October 15 last year.

The court heard Kilner also sped off when police activated their lights and sirens behind him.

After evading police, Kilner was later seen in Teesdale, where he jumped out of his car and went to change clothes.

While changing, the court heard Kilner locked himself out of his car and resorted to breaking the car’s window with a rock.

The court heard police found a plastic pill bottle containing ketamine, speed and sleeping tablets, and a small bag of MDMA during Kilner’s arrest a short time later.

Just after midnight on October 16, Kilner smashed the front glass doors of the Harvey Norman in Corio with rocks from a garden bed but failed to get through the second set of glass doors.

Frustrated, Kilner overturned a trestle table in the foyer and removed screws from it and then tried to remove a mailbox from the wall, before leaving.

He briefly returned just before 2am, but left soon after.

Kilner’s defence lawyer, Tom Edwards, told the court the matters before the court were “serious” but noted “it’s all on one weekend”.

Mr Edwards said the “reason” for the offending was Kilner “was given what he believed was Xanax from a friend, and it wasn’t”.

“It’s put him in a really, really bad headspace where he didn’t know what he was doing,” Mr Edwards said.

The court heard Kilner was already under the court’s supervision as part of the Court Integrated Supervision Program (CISP).

Originally published as Rodney Kilner fined for trespass, drug possession, police chase