Fairfield: Collins Pawa charged with common assault and stealing

A former tradie drove off with a stolen iPhone while the owner clung to the vehicle and attempted to wrap a seatbelt around his neck during a Facebook marketplace sale gone wrong.

A former tradie drove off with a stolen iPhone while the owner clung to the vehicle during a Facebook Marketplace sale gone wrong.

A former tradie drove off with a stolen iPhone while the owner clung to the vehicle and attempted to wrap a seatbelt around his neck during a Facebook marketplace sale gone wrong.

Collins Pawa, 23, appeared via audio visual link at Fairfield Local Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to common assault and stealing from the person value less than $2000 following an arranged Facebook meet-up on April 16 at Fairfield Heights.

Agreed facts state the seller was contacted by a pseudonymous Facebook profile operated by Pawa and his co-accused to buy an iPhone 14 pro-max worth $2,100 from their home.

Generic Iphone. PIcture: Istock

Pawa and his co-accused waited inside a vehicle when the seller and a family member showed the pair the mobile phone before “Pawa snatched the box from his hand.”

“Simultaneously Pawa started the car and began accelerating away from the victims not before the family member leant inside to retrieve the phone and was dragged along by the car in the process,” the facts state.

“Both Pawa and the co-accused began striking the man in the back of the head before he grabbed the seatbelt and attempted to wrap it around Pawa’s neck.”

The man continued to hang onto the vehicle until Pawa managed to push him out and “caused him to fall on the roadway”.

Police arrested Pawa more than a week later and found the stolen mobile phone during a search of his Bidwill home.

Fairfield Local Court.

Pawa’s lawyer said her client had a difficult upbringing and had stopped associating with the co-accused and reassured the court he would have the support of his father pending his release.

Magistrate Stuart Devine said it was “difficult to understand” why a Facebook marketplace exchange “would have divulged into this scenario”.

“This was made worse because he (Pawa) and his co-accused hit him while being dragged along the side of the car,” he said.

Mr Devine said Pawa’s “quite limited” adult criminal record and personal circumstances meant he was of “low to medium risk of reoffending.

Pawa was convicted and sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment for 16 months with a non-parole period of six months.