A chilling list of the Melbourne crimes that shocked Knox
Boronia mother-of-two Penny Pratt frantically called 000 for help before she was stabbed in the heart and shot by two men over a small debt. Her death was among the crimes that sent a shockwave through Melbourne’s outer east.
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From a landlord who spied on his tenants, to the brutal murder of a Boronia mother, and a sadistic killer who set his partner alight, these are some of the horrific and unique cases Knox Leader brought to light.
Take a look back at some of the past crimes that have haunted the outer east.
Mother murdered over $160
Brutal killers James John Potter and Aaron Gibson murdered mother-of-two Penny Pratt over a $160 debt, despite her desperate pleas to be spared.
Potter and Gibson were sentenced in 2012 for the 2010 murder of Ms Pratt, 27, following a financial dispute about cash owed to her.
Ms Pratt had pleaded with 000 operators to send police to save her shortly before she was shot in the head three times in the callous attack.
She was also stabbed in the heart and her throat was slashed in the lounge room of Potter’s Boronia apartment.
Potter stabbed and slashed Ms Pratt while co-accused Aaron Gibson – who was given a 22-year jail sentence for her murder – shot her in the head.
Post-mortem examinations were unable to determine in what order the fatal injuries were inflicted.
Ms Pratt pleaded with Gibson not to kill her after he produced a sawn-off shotgun begging: “Don’t, don’t. You don’t have to do this.”
But he ignored the plea.
After moving Ms Pratt into the bathroom, Gibson told Potter to “Go in there and make sure she’s dead”.
He used a stainless steel knife to stab and slash Ms Pratt’s throat.
Her body was later dumped in bushland near Olinda, in the Dandenong Ranges.
Potter later lost his bid to appeal his 20-year jail term, and Gibson was sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 19 years.
Naughty gardener kidnapped
An elderly gardener was kidnapped and faced a horrifying two-month ordeal after paying for sex with a tenant in the units he was employed to garden.
The then 74-year-old was gardening at a set of Ferntree Gully units in 2012 when invited to pay for sex by Rachel Jane Kilpatrick who lived at the complex.
Ms Kilpatrick offered the gardener a cup of tea and agreed on a price of $150 for sex, which they had in the loungeroom.
The mother-of-two then rang the gardener at his home, asked him to come to her house and then requested he drive her to her friend’s house in Boronia.
The pair were met by co-accused Rodney Gosland, who put the elderly man in a headlock and demanded money and threatened to “cut his d*** off” unless he paid up.
Kilpatrick and Gosland took $170 from the victim’s wallet and then demanded he pay a further $700, which the elderly man took from his car boot and gave to the pair.
Kilpatrick told the man they were “all square”.
But weeks later, the elderly man was kidnapped from Elsie St in Boronia, bashed, robbed and held at knifepoint.
Kilpatrick and Gosland pleaded guilty in the County Court in 2013 to charges of kidnapping, extortion, theft and intentionally causing injury.
Kilpatrick was sentenced to five years’ jail, with two years and nine months’ non-parole.
Gosland was given six years’ jail, with four years’ non-parole.
The third accused Michael Patrick Murphy pleaded guilty and was sentenced for kidnapping, intentionally causing injury and theft, to four years’ and six months’ jail, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.
Landlord turns peeping tom
An Iranian migrant escaped jail despite being convicted of installing hidden surveillance cameras to spy on tenants living in his Boronia house.
Davoud Kaivan pleaded guilty in 2012 to installing surveillance devices in his home to spy on the tenants in their bedrooms, while watching what they got up to on a television in his bedroom.
Kaivan, a painter and decorator, bought a unit in Dorset Rd in late 2008 and set up the cameras in the two spare bedrooms when he redecorated the property.
He had drilled holes in the ceiling cornices.
Two hidden cameras were discovered by a tenant in September 2011, which prompted the boarder to contact police.
From late 2008 until September 2011, eight tenants — including men, women and couples — rented out the two rooms from Kaivan.
The court was told a police investigation of the house found the hidden cameras were connected to wires that snaked through the roof.
The wires led to Kaivan’s bedroom, where they were connected to a television.
Ringwood magistrate Nunzio La Rosa said there was no evidence Kaivan had been driven by sexual or voyeuristic motives, and fined him $3000.
The magistrate also ordered the CCTV equipment be forfeited and destroyed.
Mailbox drug deals
A Boronia couple were locked up after importing drugs through the post office and suburban letter boxes.
Levi Millar and Tayla Madden were convicted for drug trafficking, which first came to light when a parcel of drugs burst at the Wonga Park post office, exposing staff to white powder which turned out to be cocaine.
County Court Judge Wendy Milmoth sentenced Millar and Madden to 18 months’ and 16 months’ jail, respectively.
Court documents showed the couple started their drug-importing business after running out of money to pay for their heavy ice habit.
In July 2014, Millar paid an associate $1000 to lease a post office box at the Wonga Park post office and started importing small parcels of drugs to the box.
Millar used a digital currency to pay for the drugs, which arrived in envelopes bearing UK stamps.
Deliveries continued infrequently until a damaged package arrived at the post office on September 17, 2014, exposing staff to the cocaine inside.
Police arrested the couple, who were carrying almost $17,000 in cash and a quantity of drugs, including ice, MDMA and cocaine.
Millar and Madden were granted bail but soon devised a new system to continue their trafficking.
According to court documents, a Coldstream woman received a parcel in her letter box containing 30g of cocaine.
Police set up surveillance at her home and Millar was witnessed inspecting the letter box on many occasions.
On July 13, an Olinda resident contacted police to say he had received two parcels of cocaine.
Madden was later seen inspecting the letter box at the Olinda home.
The couple, then living in Bayswater, were arrested for a second time but this time did not apply for bail.
Millar was sentenced to serve a minimum of 10 months’ jail, while Madden was sentenced to serve eight months before being eligible for parole.
Sadistic killer jailed for life
In a drug-fuelled rage Hopkins stabbed mother-of-three Nicole Millar, 42, at a Bayswater service station, doused her with petrol and set her alight on June 1, 2010. She later died from her injuries.
Supreme Court judge Justice Betty King set a maximum term of life imprisonment and told the 42-year-old it was a depraved and horrific crime that almost defied belief.
“So many people have been traumatised by what you did,” the judge said.
“The behaviour exhibited is an example of the worst kind of vicious and sadistic behaviour that a court is likely to see.”
As Ms Millar’s body was engulfed by flames, Hopkins, her violent and abusive boyfriend, screamed “burn bitch, burn” and brandished a knife at shocked onlookers who rushed to her aid.
Justice King said the CCTV footage from the service station was horrific.
“You not only burnt her you told her to die and burn in hell.”
Ms Millar and Hopkins had dropped her teenage son off at school that morning and stopped to fill their car with petrol at the service station.
Outside court, the victim’s daughter, Ashlea, said she was happy with the sentence and hoped Hopkins would have time to think about what he did.
Tragic arsonist
A woman battling mental health issues, who burned down a Wantirna South townhouse during a suicide attempt, was sentenced to at least five months’ jail.
Madeleine Pearce, 24, who pleaded guilty to one count of arson after the Tate Ave fire in 2011, was sentenced in the County Court on May 4, 2012.
She also pleaded guilty to one count of skipping bail after she fled to Adelaide and failed to appear at a scheduled hearing on February 13.
Judge Frances Hogan sentenced Pearce to 15 months’ jail, with a minimum of five months, for the arson charge and one month jail, to be served concurrently, for breaching bail.
Pearce had a long history of mental illness, homelessness, prostitution and self-harm and was a squatter in Wantirna South at the time of the fire.
On the night of the crime, Pearce entered the townhouse, which was under construction, and lit a fire using timber and an accelerant.
She lay down on the floor to die, but then changed her mind and fled, watching from the street as the house burned.
Pearce at first lied to police but later confessed to the crime, and said she was told by voices in her head to light the fire.
While she was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, she had not taken her medication.
Pearce had previously been diagnosed with illnesses including borderline personality disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.
In sentencing Pearce, Judge Hogan said it was a “tragedy” that Pearce be sentenced to a term of imprisonment and, while she had sympathy for her traumatic upbringing and ongoing mental health problems, it would be irresponsible to release her back into the community.
She considered Pearce was a risk to herself and of reoffending.
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Judge Hogan rejected a compensation order of more than $176,000 to pay for damages and loss sustained by the house owner after the fire because there was no prospect of Pearce paying it back and the debt would be added stress to her.
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