Ryan Kniese: Mernda man rips off Bunnings, hoons through Wollert
A speed demon teen, armed with a flick knife, narrowly missed smashing into a police car as he hooned through Mernda. Weeks later the delinquent was ripping off Bunnings.
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A wild P-plater almost collided with a police car and a large truck as he sped through Mernda, weeks before ripping off Bunnings in a counterfeit scheme.
Ryan Kniese, 20, fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday, November 9, having pleaded guilty to charges including driving in a dangerous manner and not stopping for police.
Kniese almost caused a series of crashes as he hooned through Mernda after 2pm on November 15, 2019 without number plates or probationary plates on his Holden commodore.
He was flying along Renaissance Boulevard — a built-up residential street with speed bumps — when a quick-thinking sergeant swerved the police car off the road to avoid a head-on smash with Kniese.
The court heard Kniese sped up after seeing the police, overtaking cars on Bridge-Inn Rd and causing a large truck to lock its brakes and swerve to avoid a collision.
Kniese then sped through Wollert narrowly avoiding crashing into other vehicles as police chased him with their lights and sirens blaring.
Kniese, who was 19 at the time, was found running on foot about 2.25pm, with a flick knife disguised as a credit card in his wallet.
His car was unregistered and dangerously unroadworthy.
The court heard Kniese was on bail when he used fake $100 notes to steal from Bunnings Mernda on December 3 and December 12, 2019.
On both days Kniese went to the hardware shop with a friend and bought items worth about $10 using the counterfeit cash, getting about $90 change, before he was arrested days later.
The court heard the unemployed Mernda man had a mild intellectual disability and helped his father care for his younger sister.
Kniese’s lawyer asked for her client to be placed on an adjourned undertaking to prove he could be of good behaviour.
Magistrate Michael McNamara adjourned the case for sentencing to February 8, 2021.
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