Jacob Larkin, Cemre Volkan, Jesse Gardiner: Violent offenders of the southeast
From Frankston to Dandenong these men have bashed, beaten and stabbed others. Read about some of the violent offenders in Melbourne’s southeast to face court this year.
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From stabbing a mate in the chest to jumping a parking inspector these are some of the violent thugs of Melbourne’s southeast.
Jacob Larkin
A man with a long history of violent offending escaped jail despite brawling with another man outside a bar in Frankston and lying to police about it.
Jacob Larkin, who works as a commercial cleaner, appeared in the Frankston Magistrates’ Court in July where he pleaded guilty to one charge of affray.
On October 14, 2022 Larkin went to JD’s Pool Rooms and Bar in Frankston for a few games of pool.
The court heard the Frankston man played several games and consumed multiple drinks after arriving at the bar about 6.30pm.
A few hours later, Larkin found himself involved in a fight outside the venue.
He was left with stab wounds to his face and hand and taken to Frankston Hospital.
While there, the cleaner lied to police, saying he had been booking an Uber outside the bar when he heard someone smash a glass before attacking him with it.
But CCTV contradicted his story, showing Larkin instigating the fight with another man just after midnight.
Magistrate Julian Ayres said it was a “significant amount of violence” and he had “no doubt” Larkin had initiated the offending.
The court heard Larkin was already on a three year community corrections order issued by the County Court for elbowing his stepfather in the head.
Because of this Mr Ayres said there was no point putting Larkin on another order and said the offending was “just not serious enough” for jail time.
Instead, Larkin was convicted and fined $2000.
Cemre Volkan
The ex-boyfriend of a Melbourne socialite again landed himself in court after he assaulted a parking inspector in May 2022.
Cemre Volkan, an ex-boyfriend of Brynne Edelsten, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in July, where he pleaded guilty to assaulting a parking inspector and damaging property.
The court heard that on May 30, 2022 a parking inspector working for Stonnington Council noticed Volkan’s car parked in a no stopping zone in Windsor.
When the inspector began writing out a ticket, Volkan, who was across the road, began yelling “Oi, don’t you f------ do that”.
He continued to yell as he ran across the road and shoulder charged the victim.
Later that day on High St in Prahran the same parking inspector noticed a car parked in a no stopping zone, and quickly noticed it Volkan’s car
The victim rolled down the window of his work car to take a photograph of Volkan’s illegally parked car when Volkan spotted him and ran across High St and jumped on the bonnet of the car.
He began hurling abuse at the victim before jumping off the bonnet and kicking in the passenger side door, causing significant dints.
The court heard when Volkan attended the police station he said it “wasn’t him” involved in the incident.
The 31-year-old was slapped with an 18-month community corrections order in which he will have to complete 100 hours of community work, and a conviction was recorded.
He will also have to pay $3000 in restitution.
Magistrate Therese McCarthy said if Volkan engaged in this behaviour again it would be “very likely” he would receive a term of imprisonment.
Jesse Gardiner
A man who bashed a footy fan with a didgeridoo after a Dreamtime at the ‘G match had a “disturbing” history of violence, a court has been told.
Jesse Gardiner, 28, appeared in Dandenong Magistrates’ Koori Court in August, where he was sentenced to 300 days’ jail — of which 218 had already been served — following his attack on a 25-year-old man after the Dreamtime at the ‘G match between Richmond and Essendon in May 2022.
Gardiner, from Dandenong North, struck his victim, Daniel Ierardo, with a didgeridoo as they were walking across Batman Ave.
The victim suffered two skull fractures, bleeding on the brain, a broken eye socket, broken nose and a lost tooth.
He took six months to recover and requires ongoing dental work and suffers from vision loss.
Another victim was jabbed in the face with the didgeridoo, causing a blood nose.
Pleading guilty to all charges, Gardiner appeared in the Koori Court where Magistrate King said he had a “disturbing” history of violence.
Tess Theocharous, for Gardiner, told the court her client had significant “talent” in the cultural space and was an Indigenous dancer and artist.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the family of Mr Ierardo said he had relied on relatives and friends to help him financially as he had been unable to work since the attack.
“It has traumatised the whole family,” the statement read.
Gardiner told the court he acted the way he did to protect another Indigenous person, however, this claim wasn’t accepted by the court.
The court also heard Gardiner got into trouble with similar separate violent offending in January this year when he was involved in an attack at a Dandenong hotel.
The victim and Gardiner were arguing over a beer when Gardiner approached him from behind and hit him over the head with a metal baton.
The victim required stitches in his head.
Gardiner told the court he was “sorry” about the offending and was “disappointed” in himself.
Magistrate Michael King said Gardiner’s attack on Mr Ierardo had seriously impacted his victim’s life.
“He has to live with it now. You can move on but he has to try and work his way through all of these issues now,” he said.
Gardiner addressed the victim’s family in court.
“I am extremely sorry and I am remorseful for what I have done,” he said.
Yeuvaa Premkumar
A Doveton delivery driver who smashed up several cars before stabbing a man he used to work with so hard the blade broke off in the victim’s chest has been jailed.
Yeuvaa Premkumar, 30, appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court in August where he pleaded guilty to charges relating to criminal damage and intentionally causing injury.
Premkumar knew his victims from when they worked together at a cleaning company and he had a history of hatred towards them.
In June 2022, Premkumar took a dumbbell from his home and went to the victims’ address where he used the dumbbell to smash the back window of one of the victim’s car.
A few days later Premkumar returned to the address and used his elbow to break the window of the car of the other victim.
The victims tracked him down and confronted him about the damage he had done to their cars.
While they were confronting him, one of the victims left and went back home as he had seen Premkumar holding a metal object and got scared.
The other victim remained at the scene and engaged in a verbal argument with Premkumar.
Premkumar then produced a knife and violently stabbed the victim in the left side of his chest, with the blade breaking off the knife, staying in the victim.
The court heard the victim removed the blade from his own chest on his way to the hospital.
Magistrate John O‘Callaghan said Premkumar was incredibly lucky he wasn’t facing a charge of murder in a higher court.
“If not for good fortune you would’ve killed this man,” he said.
“I believe you are very sorry for what you have done but we cannot allow this behaviour to go unpunished.”
There were also concerns Premkumar would be “exploited” if he was sent to jail.
“If you don’t want to be exploited by people in custody don’t stick knives into people’s chest,” Mr O‘Callaghan said.
Premkumar was sentenced to three months’ jail which will precede a 12 month community corrections order. socialite
