Tony Boyd Carmichael jailed for armed home invasion
An armed home invasion in the dead of night by a convicted Maryborough killer and his masked accomplice was aborted when the brave home owner fought back.
Bundaberg
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An armed home invasion in the dead of night by a convicted Maryborough killer and his masked accomplice was aborted when the brave home owner fought back.
Bundaberg District Court was told on Thursday that the homeowner was woken by the sound of glass shattering in his home in the western Brisbane suburb of Doolandella around 11.30pm on December 20, 2021.
CCTV footage obtained by a subsequent police investigation showed two men arriving at the scene minutes earlier in a black Jeep.
Crown prosecutor Annika Fritz told the court the victim walked into his living room and was confronted by the two intruders wearing masks, hooded jumpers, long pants and gloves.
One of the men, Tony Boyd Carmichael, shouted “Give me money! Give me money!” at the man, who told them he had none.
Carmichael, 48, of Maryborough, then moved closer to the man, pointed a gun at him and repeated his demands for money.
The man grabbed the barrel of the gun in order to move it away from him, and was pushed backwards into a glass cabinet by Carmichael, the court heard.
The unidentified intruder then tried to remove the man’s hand from the gun, causing all three men to fall to the ground.
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In the ensuing struggle the home owner’s hand was ripped from the gun, and he sustained a number of cuts to his right hand.
Carmichael and the unidentified intruder then fled without taking any property.
The court heard that the police investigation found some blood at the scene which was matched with Carmichael, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Carmichael surrendered himself into police custody on July 26, 2022.
Appearing in Bundaberg District Court from custody via video link, Carmichael plead guilty to one count of burglary, burglary by break-in in the night in company with property damage, and one count of attempted armed robbery in company.
Ms Fritz argued that Carmichael’s offending was “very serious” given his extensive criminal history of violence including the use of weapons.
He had previously been convicted of the manslaughter of Michael John Rutherford, who was shot in the head in Mackay in 1997, an offence for which Carmichael was imprisoned for 11 years, the court heard.
His criminal history also included a number of weapons and drug offences committed following his release from prison in 2011.
The court heard that in 2020, Carmichael was acquitted by the Brisbane Supreme Court of the murder of Gregory Armstrong, who disappeared in 1997.
Prior to his acquittal from the Armstrong murder, Carmichael had served eight months in pre-sentence custody, which his barrister, Jens Streit, argued should be taken into account in sentencing for the home invasion charges when determining his eligibility for parole.
The court heard that Carmichael felt “deep remorse” for his actions, and had an ice addiction at the time of the offences.
In sentencing, Judge Allen KC said that Carmichael’s serious criminal history “loom(ed) large” in his decision making.
“Given your previous conviction for very serious offences involving the death and injury of persons by use of a firearm and your subsequent Weapons Act offences, and then this offending with a firearm, considerations of personal deterrence and community protection loom large,” Judge Allen said.
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Judge Allen did not consider time spent in pre-sentence custody for the 2020 murder charge - of which he was acquitted - to be relevant in this case.
“If anything, one would have hoped that a period spent in prison would have had a deterrent effect to further offending – it obviously did not,” he said.
Carmichael received a sentence of six years imprisonment, including 8.5 months served in pre-sentence custody for the home invasion charges.
He will be eligible for parole on July 26, 2024.
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