Police chase follows crime spree across Melbourne’s north
A high-speed chase with a police helicopter, stolen car convoys, men crawling along factory floors — this crime rampage across the city’s north sounds like it could have come straight from the set of a Hollywood movie.
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A man led a police helicopter on a high-speed chase after “Mission Impossible”-style burglaries at a factory on Somerton Park Drive, Campbellfield and Epping RSL.
Police tracked Nikolie Jankovski and his co-offender in a helicopter as the pair drove recklessly, endangering lives, following the calculated robberies.
The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to all charges against him before Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday, April 20, having been locked up for 128 days.
First Constable Irwin Fe said the pair crawled along the factory floor to avoid alarm sensors during the burglary at 4.30am on December 9, before they took a 1986 Holden commodore from inside.
About 30 minutes later, police spotted Jankovski driving the stolen Holden in Lalor in convoy with his co-offender, who was in one of three cars stolen from Pickles Auctions in Sunshine on December 3.
Jankovski then dumped the stolen Holden on Rochester Rd, Lalor, and got a ride with his co-offender, who drove extremely dangerously as police tried to pull them over in Craigieburn.
The court heard Jankovski jumped out of the car in Wollert and ran to his home to get his mum’s car, before he picked up his mate and sped towards Melbourne Airport.
First Constable Irwin Fe said police helicopter saw Jankovski repeatedly driving on the wrong side of the road, ignoring traffic lights, driving on the footpath and through a heavily populated pedestrian crossing.
“He proceeded to drive in an extremely dangerous manner, putting himself, his passenger, and members of the public at risk,” First Constable Fe said.
Jankovski then drove all the way to Southbank, dumping his mum’s car in the carpark of the National Gallery of Victoria.
Two days earlier, on December 7, the pair had broken into Epping RSL in the early hours of the morning and stolen a $2000, 75-inch TV.
The court heard the men spent “a considerable amount of time in the premises” and were caught on CCTV crawling through corridors to avoid alarm sensors and moving around in the roof.
They fled the burglary in a Nissan Navara ute which was stolen from Oak Park station on December 6, and went to Liquorland Epping about 5.10am, where they were seen on CCTV loading stolen cigarette packets into the ute.
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Jankovski was taken into custody on December 14, having only been released from jail on a community corrections order on November 24.
The court heard much of his offending was related to his addiction to methamphetamine, and that he was suffering PTSD after being stabbed in the neck in 2018.
His lawyer told the court Jankovski’s heart condition meant he fell in the high-risk category for those vulnerable to COVID-19, and urged the court to consider his time in custody adequate.
But Magistrate Michael McNamara said he wanted Jankovski to serve six months in jail and then a community corrections order.
Mr McNamara said he would deliver the sentence on Wednesday, April 22, after Jankovski had been assessed for the community corrections order.