Chase Matthews of Heidelberg West steals cars, pulls out knife

While Melburnians have five more weeks of Stage 4 lockdown, a one-man Heidelberg West crime wave has a lockdown of a different sort after terrorising the northern suburbs.

Matthews pulled a large knife on someone who caught him trying to steal their car.

A Heidelberg West teenager has been banned from metropolitan Melbourne for two months after admitting to committing a number of crimes in northern suburbs, including dangerous driving and car theft.

Chase Matthews sped through Heidelberg in a stolen car at night with his lights off and pulled out a large knife as he chased someone who caught him trying to steal their car.

The 19-year-old fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, August 5, having been locked up since police found him hiding in the attic of his mum’s house on July 23.

Matthews was arrested after a police helicopter tracked him as he drove dangerously to evade police just before 12.30am.

Police saw him driving a stolen Subaru fast through Reservoir, putting on their lights and sirens to pursue him, before Matthews turned right across four lanes of traffic to get away.

Senior Constable Lauren Wilson said the police air wing then observed Matthews drive at 80km/h on Upper Heidelberg Rd with the car’s headlights off, before he abandoned the car in Heidelberg West and walked to his mum’s house.

He was on bail after he and his brother broke into a Mazda in Bundoora about 5pm on August 25, 2019, and used a tool to unsuccessfully try to force the ignition.

When they got out of the car, taking the GPS, they were confronted by the owner, and became verbally aggressive.

The court heard the pair chased the owner and Matthews pulled out a large knife.

Later that evening he was seen arriving at the Austin Hospital with his brother in a stolen Volvo.

Two days earlier he was caught on CCTV stealing $49.44 petrol from Coles Express Reservoir in a stolen Nissan.

On August 18, 2019, two days before that, Matthews stole a Toyota from Maryborough railway station about 12.30pm and drove it to Melbourne, then stole a Nissan from Polaris shopping centre in Bundoora about 9pm.

The court heard he also stole petrol from Coles Express on May 14, 2019, while driving a car that had been stolen from Northcote Plaza days earlier.

Matthews was unlicensed during all the incidents.

He pleaded guilty to all charges before the court.

Lawyer Emily Metcalfe said Matthews was Indigenous, lived with high-functioning autism and an intellectual disability and had a one-year-old daughter.

She said Matthews moved to Mt Glasgow to live with his girlfriend and her parents last year, where he managed to remain mainly offence-free, and had only been returning to Melbourne and offending when they fought.

Ms Metcalfe asked for him to be placed on a community corrections order.

The court heard it would take up to eight weeks for a justice plan to be prepared for the order, so Ms Metcalfe applied for Matthews to be released on bail under the supervision of the Youth Justice program in the meantime.

Magistrate Denise Livingston said Matthews was “borderline” for being eligible for bail, but granted it.

She took up Ms Metcalfe’s suggestion to ban Matthews from metropolitan Melbourne among other strict conditions.

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