The top 10 shocking community court stories this week
From a drug trafficker to a person stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from their ex’s business, these are some of the most shocking stories that came out of Victorian courts this week.
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From a drug trafficker to stealing thousands from an ex-boyfriend’s business, these are just some of the stories that came out of Victorian courts this week.
Nicholas Cornelius Boers, Shepparton Magistrates’ Court
A Moora man fronted court after being charged with distributing and possessing child abuse material.
Nicholas Cornelius Boers is facing a truckload of charges after an investigation by the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) allegedly found Mr Boers sharing child abuse material on a number of different services.
It is alleged by police that Mr Boers used services such as Kik Messenger and Tumblr to publish and distribute the material.
Mr Boers also allegedly sent child abuse material via text messages.
Ms Bhai adjourned the matter for a committal mention in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on March 26.
Steuaret Laidlaw, Horsham Magistrates’ Court
A Lake Bolac fiend caught red handed sharing sickening child abuse material said he “wanted to rape” a 14-year-old girl.
Steuaret Laidlaw, 41, was sentenced in the Horsham Magistrates’ Court, held in Shepparton, on two charges of distributing child abuse material and one charge of possessing child abuse material.
Laidlaw’s residence was raided by police on January 22, 2022 where police found 91 images and videos of children as young as 4.
Laidlaw distributed disturbing child abuse material, most notably a video of a man sexually assaulting a three-year-old child.
Text messages seized from Laidlaw’s phone also revealed he “wanted to rape” a 14-year-old girl.
He was jailed for six months but has challenged the ruling and will attend the Horsham County Court in June for an appeal.
Braedyn Parker, Claudia Hartley and Jessy Brown, Mildura Magistrates’ Court
Two men and a female accomplice are among those accused of seeking revenge on a man by luring him to an isolated location in Mildura and assaulting him with a deadly weapon.
The Mildura Magistrates’ Court heard Claudia Hartley allegedly lured the man to Old Mail Road on August 19 last year — a location some 60 minutes from Mildura CBD — under the pretence of having a 2004 Ford Falcon for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
When the would-be buyer arrived at the secluded location he noticed a white SUV pull up behind him, with Braedyn Parker and Jessy Brown inside.
Once the pair exited their vehicle, police say the duo assaulted the man with a sawn off shotgun, hitting him with the barrel of the weapon while making claims about what he had done to their sister.
In Koori court on Wednesday, the mum of the alleged victim blasted Mr Parker for his alleged role in the attack.
“You’ve damaged my son, you’ve damaged my family. How would you feel if your mother had gotten that phone call,” she said.
Mr Parker will return to court at a later date.
Meanwhile, Brown was given a nine month community corrections order and placed on a six month good behaviour bond for acting as the getaway driver.
Hartley was convicted for her role in the vicious assault and fined $2000.
She also paid $1400 in restitution.
Katie Davey, Melbourne County Court
A degenerate gambling junkie ripped more than $700,000 from her ex-partner’s company to fund a crippling online slots addiction.
Katie Davey, 43, pleaded guilty in the County Court on Friday to multiple rolled-up obtain financial advantage by deception charges.
The mum grifted $706,586 via 1109 bogus transactions while employed at her former partner’s Gippsland-based company Stephenson Transport.
The court heard Davey diddled account records to fleece the cash into her personal bank accounts between March 2014 and April 2016.
Davey, the former company book keeper, used the stolen dough for “personal expenses”, but the bulk of the stolen cash was sunk via online gambling.
Davey will be sentenced at a later date.
Alejandra Romero, Melbourne County Court
A failed ice-addled Melbourne conveyancer claimed a secret meth lab set up at her dead mother’s Mill Park home belonged to her druggie ex-boyfriend.
Alejandra Romero, 34, was sentenced in the County Court last Monday after pleading guilty to possess substances to traffic drugs and possess counterfeit cash.
Romero was nabbed with $2000 in counterfeit $100 notes, a taser and substances used to traffic meth after police raided her deceased mum’s Mill Park home on June 20, 2022.
Investigators also discovered a clandestine meth lab concealed behind a “hinged false wall” in the study of the Mill Park home.
Romero, who has priors for shoplifting, was convicted and handed a 12-month community correction order.
Amanda Towle, Bendigo Magistrates’ Court
An Aboriginal woman has faced the music for her role in the gang bashing of another Aboriginal woman in broad daylight that left the victim needing emergency surgery.
Amanda Towle, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to taking part in the brutal bashing of a 46-year-old woman outside of the Bendigo Library on December 6, 2022.
CCTV footage revealed the victim got into an argument with Towle and three others near the Bendigo library.
Towle, who was part of the group approached the victim and called her a “black c---”, the court heard.
About 10 minutes later, a fight broke out in the carpark behind the nearby Australia Post.
CCTV footage depicts Towle punching the victim “several times” to the face.
Magistrate Trieu Huynh said Towle had been complicit in violent public offending that would have been “very traumatic” for people to see.
However, because she had not reoffended for 14 months while on bail, he placed her on a good behaviour bond for 12 months with a conviction.
She was also ordered to contribute $500 to the court fund.
Johnny Mikael, Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court
A Wallan man who hurled abuse after being caught for reckless driving has been told to control his anger.
Johnny Mikael, 30, pleaded guilty in the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court after he was pulled over in Westmeadows in December 2022.
The tradie, who works at Total Reblocking & Underpinning, was pulled over by police while driving his white Ford Falcon.
Becoming hostile, Mikael began filming the interaction on his phone.
“If you make my life hard, I will make your life harder, f--k you,” he told police.
“Uncuff me, you f--ing dogs,” he said as he banged the police car windows while handcuffed.
Mikael was convicted, fined $350, and his licence was cancelled for two years.
Harley Derrick, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court
A Finks bikie claimed he kept a firearm without a licence for his safety after falling out with the outlaw motorcycle gang.
Harley Derrick, 34, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to charges of possession of a firearm being a prohibited person, possession of ammunition, and possession of cocaine.
Derrick was one of four bikies arrested in July last year over an Echo Taskforce investigation into an alleged Eltham extortion racket.
The men are alleged to have turned up in Finks gear and threatened to burn down his Main Rd convenience store if he did not close.
Magistrate Brett Sonnet ordered Derrick be assessed for a community corrections order but indicated he would receive at least 12 months imprisonment.
Corey Fiddes, Melbourne County Court
A former star Melbourne basketballer who raped a woman multiple times left his “traumatised” victim in a living “nightmare”.
Corey Fiddes, 23, fronted the County Court on Thursday after he was found guilty of three counts of rape.
Fiddes worked as a real estate agent and was a semi-professional basketballer in a lower NBL league when he raped his victim in early-2021.
The court heard Fiddes sexually violated his victim after the pair encountered each other on a dancefloor.
Rylee Park, Bendigo Magistrates’ Court
A wannabe Gisborne nurse with ties to outlaw bikies who was “part of a larger criminal enterprise” has been busted with $30,000 worth of GHB and meth strapped to her body and under the hood of her car.
Rylee Park was jailed for 10 months at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court for trafficking meth and GHB with a street value of $30,000 in Gisborne and Kerang.
When she was arrested at a petrol station in Kerang on December 2, 2023 police found the drugs strapped to her body and stashed in the bonnet of the black Mitsubishi Eclipse she was driving.
Magistrate Sharon McRae said there was “no doubt she is participating in a fairly organised … trafficking set up”.
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