Michael Scott Carter‘s rampage through Bendigo city after huffing paint fumes

A man high on paint fumes went on a “rampage” through Bendigo’s city heart, which included a frightening incident that resulted in a motorist having to frantically abandon her car.

A Kangaroo Flat man who was high on paint fumes, went on a “rampage” through Bendigo’s city heart, throwing himself on a car windscreen and jumping on the roof.

Bendigo Magistrates Court heard on Thursday Michael Scott Carter was talking to a female friend near a Bendigo city bus stop while inhaling the paint can chemicals through a straw moments before rioting through the streets in the early afternoon on November 23, 2020.

After getting high from ‘chroming’ - a term used to describe the intentional inhalation of fumes — Carter began running through busy traffic and attempted to punch passing buses.

He threw a bag of clothes onto the street, and then stopped traffic as he wove through cars across the road to pick them up again.

One woman who stopped her car in the middle of the chaos became the target of Carter’s attention.

The 27-year-old ran at the vehicle and threw his body on the windscreen, smashing it.

The intoxicated man then climbed onto the top of her vehicle and began jumping up and down while she screamed inside.

The woman escaped before the roof of her car caved in.

City of Greater Bendigo CCTV footage captured the mayhem, with police estimating he caused thousands of dollars in damage.

Carter’s lawyer, Robert Timms said the Kangaroo Flat father had no memory of the “rampage” as a result of the chroming.

“It’s going down to what was happening in his brain,” he said.

Mr Timms said his client likely had a “neurological deficit” which had combined with his extensive drug use.

He said the 27-year-old, who lives with his grandparents, was now drug-free and had handwritten three apology letters to his victim.

“He acknowledges the victim would have been terrified in her car with him jumping on the roof,” Mr Timms said.

Mr Timms said Carter knew his actions were serious and frightening.

This was not Carter’s only tangle with the law in Bendigo’s city heart.

On May 2, 2020 Carter went to the Bendigo Dan Murphy’s and stuffed a 17-year-old bottle of whiskey down his pants.

Carter was confronted by staff while still smuggling the $178 bottle in his trousers.

When police caught up to him he said he stole the alcohol to “either swap for bud or to give to his girlfriend to make her happy”.

The stolen whiskey was not recovered.

On Thursday Carter pleaded guilty to the charges, after serving 135 days in pre-sentencing detention.

Magistrate Russell Kelly delayed his case for a mental health assessment until April 23.