Brent Guerin, Casey-Lee Pricsina face ACT Magistrates Court after stolen car crash

Officers responding to a crash have found drugs, a taser and about $10,000 in cash on nearby rooftops.

Cash seized by police. Picture: ACT Policing

Police have made the unusual discovery of a rooftop cash stash while responding to calls about a stolen luxury car crashing into a Canberra home.

Emergency services were called to the ACT suburb of Crace about 8pm last Wednesday after a stolen Mercedes GLC63 hit the front of the home and caused “significant damage”.

A man and a woman were seen fleeing the car after the incident, in which no one was injured.

Witnesses followed the pair, with some using their phones to film the man as he ran away.

The man was allegedly seen carrying bags, which police later located on nearby rooftops.

Items seized by police. Picture: ACT Policing

“[The bags] were found to contain approximately $10,000 in cash, a small quantity of illicit substances and a taser,” ACT Policing said in a statement.

About an hour after the stolen car crash, police allege the same man entered a different Crace home and threatened a resident.

Drugs allegedly found by police. Picture: ACT Policing

The resident allegedly handed over a phone and the keys to an orange Ford Fiesta, which police recovered the following day.

Police investigating the incident eventually identified Brent Ian Guerin, 35, and Casey-Lee Pricsina, 33, as the alleged offenders.

Both were arrested on Tuesday afternoon at a hotel in Canberra’s inner north, where Guerin was allegedly found with about $8900 in cash, 8.6 grams of heroin and roughly 25 grams of methamphetamine.

Guerin, of no fixed abode, was subsequently charged with 18 offences.

Methamphetamine allegedly found on Brent Guerin when he was arrested. Picture: ACT Policing

They include drug trafficking, possessing an offensive weapon, possessing suspected proceeds of crime, taking a motor vehicle without consent, and two counts each of dangerous driving and driving a stolen vehicle.

When he faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday, he did not enter pleas or apply for bail.

Magistrate Alexandra Burt therefore remanded him in custody.

Pricsina also faced court, charged with riding in a stolen vehicle.

She successfully sought bail despite her lawyer, Jeremy Banwell, admitting she had been in breach of court orders at the time of the stolen car crash.

The court heard Pricsina had already been on bail in relation to ongoing charges, including causing grievous bodily harm, and that a curfew condition required her to be home by 8pm.

Mr Banwell said the 33-year-old Mawson resident had been trying to comply with this condition last Wednesday, when she was running late and Guerin offered her a lift home.

The Legal Aid lawyer argued the prosecution case was “impossibly weak” because, he said, there was no evidence Pricsina either knew or suspected the Mercedes was stolen.

While prosecutor Samuel Carmichael alleged Pricsina had asked crash witnesses not to call the police, Mr Banwell said this may have been because she knew she was breaching bail.

Ms Burt described the curfew contravention as “not good enough”, and did not accept that the prosecution case was “impossibly weak”.

However, the magistrate ultimately said she was satisfied more strict bail conditions could ameliorate any risks Pricsina posed to the public.

Pricsina is due back in court later this month, while Guerin is scheduled to appear again in May.