Killer who stole Nick Kyrgios’ car went on ‘bizarre’ rooftop rampage

Weeks before he stole Nick Kyrgios’ car at gunpoint, a convicted killer caused “significant alarm” during a rooftop rampage.

Nick Kyrgios with his bright green Tesla, which the offender stole last year. Picture: Instagram

A convicted killer, who stole tennis star Nick Kyrgios’ car at gunpoint, carried out a “bizarre” rooftop rampage a few weeks before the robbery, a court has heard.

The 33-year-old Canberra man, who is not named for legal reasons, was fined $2500 in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to three counts of property damage and two trespassing charges.

Magistrate James Lawton gave him no time to pay the fines, meaning they will eventually be worked off through time in custody.

The offender, who has been behind bars for more than 10 months, is currently awaiting sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court after pleading guilty to an aggravated robbery charge.

That charge relates to an incident in which he threatened Kyrgios’ mother with a gun in order to steal the tennis star’s bright green Tesla Model X in Canberra’s northern suburbs in May 2023.

Nick Kyrgios with his Tesla, which was stolen last year. Picture: Instagram

Kyrgios helped police catch the offender by using the Tesla app on his phone to track its location and limit its speed after it was stolen.

In the Magistrates Court on Wednesday, it was revealed the offender had committed another series of crimes in March 2023, about six weeks before the robbery.

Clea Rose, who died in 2005 after being hit by a car that was fleeing from police in Canberra. Picture: Supplied

Court documents show he trespassed into a property in Ainslie, in Canberra’s inner north, where he jumped on the roof of a garden shed.

He subsequently started jumping on the roof of another home, where he was spotted by a pizza delivery driver who thought his behaviour was “weird”.

When an occupant of this home went to get a ladder to help the offender off the roof, the 33-year-old pulled out part of an airconditioning unit and caused water to gush out of it.

He then leapt off the roof and landed in a tree, where court documents state he began “playing with a pink armband, a telephone line and the water line he had pulled from … the airconditioning unit”.

After a while, he jumped out of the tree and crashed down on a gazebo that sustained damage as a result.

Police did not catch up with the offender until he was arrested over the subsequent robbery of Kyrgios’ car.

He told officers he knew what they were talking about when they asked about his rooftop rampage, but he declined to elaborate and said he “had it sorted”.

On Wednesday, defence lawyer Jan De Bruin said the offender had told a pre-sentence report author he had been having a psychotic episode and believed someone was chasing him.

Prosecutor Ilsa Hattam said the rooftop incident had caused “significant alarm” for people living in the area.

Imposing the fines, Mr Lawton described the Ainslie incident as “very bizarre” and said it was “clearly linked to [the offender] having some issues with his drug use”.

He referred to the offender’s “long and chequered history”, which includes spending time behind bars for killing university student Clea Rose when he was a juvenile.

The offender, who was just 14 at the time, fatally struck Ms Rose while fleeing police in a stolen car in 2005.

He will be sentenced over the robbery of Kyrgios’ car at a later date, with an assessment of his eligibility for a drug and alcohol treatment order listed to take place in April.