Jamie Hancock faces County Court for bashing woman, kidnapping another in Ballarat East

A brutish Ballarat criminal bashed one woman and kidnapped another after stealing five cars from an Alfredton business and fleeing police.

Jamie Hancock, 32, was sentenced in County Court for a Ballarat crime spree in late 2023. Picture: File

A thieving Ballarat thug will spend at least seven more months in prison after he bashed a woman and stole five cars, leading police on a pursuit through residential streets.

Jamie Hancock, 32, faced County Court on Tuesday having pleaded guilty to a suite of charges including multiple car thefts and false imprisonment.

The court heard that in November 2023, Hancock got into an argument with a woman and cut up her lingerie.

On a different date he punched the woman in the head while she was in the bathroom of a house.

The “particularly disturbing” assault – which occurred while a child was at the home – continued into other rooms, and Hancock left before police arrived.

Hancock punched a woman in the head during an argument in November 2023. Picture: File

In December, he and a co-offender broke into Precision Agriculture in Alfredton.

They stole a laptop and about 20 sets of keys, nabbing five vehicles from the business’s lot in the following half-hour.

When police found Hancock in Canadian State Forest in one of the stolen cars, he rammed through a gate and over a set of stop sticks to escape.

While being pursued, and with a “blind intention to get away with it”, Hancock drove through residential streets, sometimes on the wrong side of the road.

At one point his co-accused threw a spanner at the police and Hancock clipped a police vehicle’s mirror while continuing to drive on a shredded tyre.

He abandoned the car in Ballarat East and ran away.

Hancock initially blamed other people for much of his offending. Picture: File

Hancock then approached a stranger who was about to drive to work, opened her car’s passenger door, removed a booster seat, and told the woman to drive him to Victoria St.

She was scared and complied.

When police passed nearby, the woman asked Hancock if they were looking for him.

“Keep f—ing driving,” he replied.

He got out of the car near Victoria St and was arrested in Winter Valley a few weeks later, on New Year’s Day 2024.

Hancock dodged most responsibility with a “mixture of lies and avoidance”, the court heard, blaming other people for much of the offending.

He pleaded guilty in February this year.

While being held at high security prisons, Hancock has worked in kitchens and laundries and begun to paint.

The court heard he grew up in Geelong and spent early years in Queensland before coming to Ballarat.

He started using drugs at an early age and suffered during his childhood.

Judge Simon Moglia said Hancock had shown an “utterly appalling” disregard for the safety of others and had “guarded” prospects of rehabilitation given his near-institutionalisation.

Hancock was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 19 months and 355 days already served.