Anthony Villella: Mernda dad jailed for 170km/h Epping police chase

A young Mernda man with a 48-page rap sheet has lasted just weeks out of jail for the third time after a 170km/hr police chase.

Anthony Villella has been jailed for a maximum of two years.

A young dad with a 48-page rap sheet has lasted just weeks out of prison for the third time in a row, despite support from Corrections Victoria.

Anthony Villella, 25, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 months’ jail before Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, having pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated burglary and reckless conduct endangering life.

Villella was taken into custody following a wild police chase on January 22, after he was released from a four-month jail sentence on December 21, 2020.

But the court heard he had actually only lasted 10 days in the community before he returned to crime.

Anthony Villella has been given multiple jail sentences.

Villella sped at an estimated 170km/h along Sydney Rd, Broadmeadows as a police helicopter tracked him on January 22 after he was spotted driving a stolen ute.

He stopped to let a terrified passenger out in Epping before he continued to lead the pursuit, speeding on the wrong side of the road and forcing other drivers to move to avoid crashes.

Villella eventually dumped the ute on Eva Place, Epping and fled on foot before he was arrested in an Epping backyard.

He was found with other licences and meth on him.

The ute he’d been driving had been stolen from a Coburg car workshop, along with three other vehicles, on New Years Eve.

Police then found a shotgun cartridge and others’ bank cards at his Mernda home.

He was also found to have broken into a Craigieburn garage about 3am on January 12, while the resident was home, and to have stolen the man’s Holden Clubsport.

The court heard Villella had breached a community corrections order with the crimes and was disqualified from driving at the time.

He was previously taken into custody on July 30, 2020, having only been released earlier that month, and was caught offending on April 28, 2020, just three weeks after he finished a 12-month jail sentence.

The court heard Villella, the father of an eight-year-old, had suffered a traumatic childhood and self-medicated for his pain with drug use.

Villella’s lawyer pushed for his client to be granted a deferral of sentence so he could go to a drug rehabilitation centre.

But Magistrate Jennifer Tregent said there was no way she would take that course of action after Villella’s “offensive behaviour”.

“He’s had more than ample opportunity,” Ms Tregent said, referencing the numerous

corrections orders with drug and mental health treatment he had previously been placed on.

“It’s lucky at this point in time, given your history, Mr Villella, that you haven’t had some collision that would seriously harm somebody else or kill them. You might kill yourself.”

Ms Tregent said Villella being isolated in jail would be a very large benefit to the community, and could benefit his child.

“Given the fact you’re going to be so absent from your child’s life because you keep spending longer and longer terms in jail, it might just be best to stay away from him.”

“Appreciate, he’s not going to know his father during his formative years”

“That’s something you need to take some time to reflect upon.”

Villella was sentenced to a maximum of two years’ jail.