Ashley Backer jailed for ‘terrifying’ Bendigo chainsaw home invasion

A Bendigo thug told a woman “today is the day” as he held a chainsaw to her throat during a “deeply disturbing” home invasion.

Bendigo thug Ashley Backer kicked down a woman’s door and held a chainsaw to her throat in a “terrifying” home invasion.

A Bendigo thug kicked down a woman’s door in Kangaroo Flat and held a chainsaw to her throat during a “deeply disturbing” home invasion.

Ashley Backer was convicted and jailed for one year and 10 months and handed a two year community corrections order after pleading guilty in the County Court to home invasion.

The court heard Backer snuck into the backyard of a Browning St address in April 2023 before “kicking the door in while the chainsaw was running”, Judge Fiona Todd said.

Judge Todd said Backer “intruded on her space so malevolently” when he held the blade of the chainsaw to her throat and said “today is the day”.

The thug told police he only used the chainsaw to intimidate her because she owed him money and had no intention of causing any physical harm.

Ashley Backer was jailed for a “terrifying” Bendigo chainsaw home invasion.

Judge Todd said the use of a chainsaw to try and satisfy a drug debt was “particularly menacing and frightening”.

The court heard Backer had pleaded guilty at an early opportunity, sparing the victim being cross examined at trial, and the community the cost and “inconvenience”, which would significantly reduce his sentence.

An Indigenous man, the court heard Backer suffered from intergenerational trauma flowing from his family’s victimisation during the stolen generation, which left him “vulnerable” and went towards mitigation of sentence.

However, Judge Todd said these mitigating factors had to be balanced with Backer’s extensive criminal history.

Judge Todd said she still needed to send a message to the community that such “alarming and terrifying” crimes would be met with just punishment.

“Your offending is denounced, it’s unacceptable that anyone has to endure what you did … in their homes,” Judge Todd said.

“Imprisonment – and a lot of it – awaits you if you continue to offend in these ways.”

Backer had already served more than a year of his sentence while remanded in custody and will be released in about eight-and-a-half months.

If he had not pleaded guilty Backer would have been jailed for five years, six months with a non-parole period of three years six months.