Drug addict Oren Thomas Davies sentence for carjacking, home invasion

One victim had his palm pierced with a knife, another was attacked with a tomahawk in a crazed carjacking and a third had her knee wound “reopened” – all at the hands of the same Queensland man.

Drug addict Oren Thomas Davies sentence in Rockhampton District Court for carjacking, home invasion and stabbing a man through the palm of his hand over drugs.

One victim had a knife go through the palm of his hand, while another was attacked with a tomahawk in broad daylight and a third had a previous injury wound reopened.

This was all at the hands of a 23-year-old “meth baby” turned drug addict named Oren Thomas Davies, Rockhampton District Court has heard.

CCTV footage of the tomahawk attack was played in court with shouts of “call the f---ing coppers” heard from the victim as Davies and co-offender, Lynton Leo, danced around the white car and its owner who tried to fight off the carjackers’ attempts.

The 57-year-old owner also yelled at the duo “get out of my f---ing car” as they managed to both get in the sedan, reverse at high speed out of the carpark, wheels squealing as people used a metal grinder under a carport nearby.

Crown prosecutor Ken Spinaze said the owner had just parked the car about 10am on February 10, 2023, and was walking away when one of the two bumped into him, causing him to drop items including his car keys which Davies picked up and handed to Leo.

He said the owner picked up a metal grinder during the incident to use in his attempts to get the offenders out of his car.

This was when Davies, who was high on drugs at the time, attacked the victim with the tomahawk, “causing serious injury to his forearm near his wrist”.

Mr Spinaze said the duo’s actions during this incident, which took place in two minutes and 45 seconds, were protracted and persistent despite it being daytime with people nearby.

He said the vehicle was recovered undamaged the next day.

The court heard Davies wrote an apology letter to this particular victim who was “less than impressed” with its contents.

Mr Spinaze said the victim told the prosecution his thoughts about the letter, including that if Davies had “simply asked for a lift to the funeral” he claimed he was so desperate to get to when he stole the car, the victim probably would have taken him.

A year before the tomahawk attack, Davies wounded another man during a violent incident at Berserker on February 16, 2022.

The victim in this incident was attacked with a knife, sustaining a gash to his forearm and the knife penetrating through the palm of his hand, after an argument over Davies smoking the victim’s marijuana without permission.

Mr Spinaze said the victim threw up his injured arm to protect his face when Davies attacked him.

Davies had also pushed a female fellow drug user down, causing her wound from a knee injury to reopen, as he and a different co-accused forced their way into her house and stole her car on February 7, 2023.

Defence barrister Julie Marsden said her client had apologised to the female victim in person.

Davies was on parole at the time of all of these offences and his criminal history included convictions for robbery, a prison riot, assaulting his co-worker over a hammer and a carjacking with a baseball bat where the victim was hit in the back of the head for refusing to let Davies take the car and left on the side of the road.

Ms Marsden said her client, whose mother used meth “right up to his birth”, moved around a lot between carers growing up but was mostly raised by his grandmother.

“He’s what is classically known as a ‘meth baby’,” she said, adding Davies only met his father for the first time when they were both in jail.

Ms Marsden said her client was introduced to drugs when he was eight and as a result of heavy use, he developed paranoid schizophrenia or alternatively, “an enduring psychotic disorder”.

Davies had also been diagnosed with Aspergers, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, had been medicated in prison and was now stable and drug free.

She said he has had insight into his reoffending linked to not taking his mental health medications and, instead, using illicit substances.

Davies pleaded guilty this month to one count of unlawful wounding, one of burglary, two of robbery in company with violence, two of unlawful use of motor vehicles, one assault occasioning bodily harm of a police officer and one of obstructing police.

Leo was previously sentenced on January 31 three years in jail with parole eligibility set for April 23, 2024.

Judge Jeff Clarke adjourned the rest of the sentencing proceedings until February 22.