Shaun O’Hara fronts Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court for stealing bike, making threats to kill and extortion

A man on a wild crime spree menaced a homeowner with a metal rode before stealing his motorbike also threatened to kill a mechanic.

Shaun O’Hara fronted the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court from custody after a string of offending landed him behind bars.

A man who walked into a home and stole a Yamaha bike while menacing the owner with a metal rod also threatened a mechanic after he demanded the victim write him a cheque.

Shaun O’Hara fronted the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday via video link from prison, where he pleaded guilty to a string of charges relating to stealing a motor vehicle, extortion and making threats to kill.

In October 2021, O’Hara, 50, stormed inside a Bell St home in Preston and stole a Yamaha bike from the garage before the homeowner confronted him.

He then picked up a metal pole and threatened the victim, who ran back inside the house frightened, while O’Hara walked out of the property with the bike.

DNA and forensic testing matched O’Hara’s fingertips to the pole.

In another incident in May 2023, O’Hara went to a car workshop in Heidelberg West and demanded a cheque be written to him.

O’Hara pleaded guilty in Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court to a slew of charges, including extortion, theft of a motor vehicle and making threats to kill.

A worker told O’Hara he could not give him the money, before O’Hara got agitated and threatened the worker saying, “You will get a bullet in your head”.

“Don’t call the cops again, you c—,” he told the car workshop worker.

“I don’t give a f — about cameras”.

O’Hara also threatened to kill a woman in 2023 and broke the glass door of a hospital on two separate occasions.

He was also caught with a trafficable quantity of GHB, known as the date rape drug, and Viagra.

The court heard O’Hara had 31 pages of priors

O’Hara’s lawyer told the court his client’s mental health was compromised.

“There’s an escalation of poor mental health. He’s been in custody for 226 days,” he said.

Magistrate Helen Murphy said she would impose a jail sentence and accepted O’Hara’s mental health had deteriorated.

“You were significantly unwell,” she said.

O’Hara was convicted and sentenced to jail for 15 months with a non-parole period of nine months.