Ballarat tiler Bradley Keirl faces County Court for car thefts and dangerous driving
A Ballarat tiler with a theft “compulsion” nicked three cars in five days and led police on a night-time chase through a Sebastopol resort.
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A Ballarat tiler stole three cars, nearly rammed a police vehicle, and rampaged through the property of a heritage-listed Sebastopol mansion – all while on a community corrections order.
Delacombe man Bradley James Keirl, 28, faced Ballarat County Court on Friday and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, exposing police officers to risk, multiple counts of theft, damaging property, and unlicensed driving.
The court heard on August 30, 2024, Keirl knocked off a car from Lydiard St in Soldiers Hill in company with an unknown person.
The wheel locked up nearby and he crashed into a tree at low speed.
Then between the night of September 1 and the morning of September 2, he nicked a ute from a farm shed in Clunes that had its owner’s wallet and bank cards inside.
About 1.15am on September 3, he took another ute from a property in Haddon.
The owner of the car, who woke up to see his vehicle being driven away, gave chase in another car through Haddon, Windermere, and Delacombe.
Police first intercepted that man’s car and then encountered Keirl on Raglan St South.
When they activated their lights and sirens, Keirl turned on his high beams and accelerated towards the police van, forcing it to swerve.
A pursuit began and Keirl at various points turned his lights off, drove on the wrong side of the road, and entered the incorrect side of a roundabout.
He rammed through the closed wooden gates of Club Wyndham in Sebastopol, which houses a heritage-listed mansion built in 1878, and through another set of metal gates, before leaving the property.
He continued driving until he lost control of the ute, which flipped, landed on its side, and rested against a power pole.
The court heard Keirl had “formed a compulsion to steal cars in the last five years”, especially under the influence of meth.
Prosecutors described his offending as “menacing”
He has spent 220 days in custody and will return to court at a later date.
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