Brodie Wastell wields Nerf gun, knife in aggravated carjacking

While wielding a Nerf gun and a knife, an 18-year-old NDIS client told an agency worker to “get out of the car or I’ll shoot you”.

A teenager who held up an NDIS worker with a Nerf gun and a knife before stealing her car and speeding around the state’s southwest has been given jail time.

Brodie Wastell, 19, appeared in Ballarat County Court on Monday.

The court heard the then 18-year-old was living in NDIS accommodation.

On October 16, 2022, an NDIS worker arrived at the property to pick up a client.

While carrying a black and red Nerf gun, Wastell told her to “get out of the car or I’ll shoot you”.

He then removed a knife from a cover and told the worker he would stab her unless he got out of the car.

The woman left the key in the car and got out before Wastell drove it away.

Wastell took $50 worth of petrol from a petrol station without paying and then arranged to pick up others.

Driving in Werribee South, Wastell reached “enormous” speeds of between 150 and 200km/h.

He made no attempt to brake at a left hand corner, hitting a street sign and power pole.

Judge John Smallwood said that if he had “caught that pole head on, there’d be three dead bodies in that vehicle”.

His driving was said to have had a “terrifying effect” on the two passengers.

The court was told Wastell had several health issues including an intellectual disability.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated carjacking, theft, conduct endangering persons, and making a threat to inflict serious injury.

Wastell was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 164 days, which he has already served.