Liam Magri sentenced for 91 charges in Dandenong Court
A Xanax-crazed madman who brandished a meat cleaver at another driver in the Burnley Tunnel and punched a woman in the face while stealing her car faces court over wild crime spree.
South East
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A Xanax-fuelled thug who brandished a meat cleaver at another driver in the Burnley Tunnel has been slammed as a “cowardly bully”.
Liam Magri, 27, appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on April 26 for the second part of a guilty plea to more than 90 charges, including the theft of vehicles and assault.
The court heard the full extent of Magri’s offending earlier in the month, which included the violent assault of a woman whose car he was attempting to steal.
The court was shown CCTV footage of Magri stealing a car from a Toorak Rd home in 2023, when he was disturbed by the female owner.
He punched her in the face during the getaway, leaving the 59-year-old with a broken nose and two black eyes.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the victim said she felt “trauma every time she walked outside her own house”.
The court heard Magri was later seen driving erratically in the Burnley Tunnel, when he swerved past another car nearly colliding with it.
When Magri spotted the driver filming him, he pulled up next to her car and wildly swung a meat cleaver out his window while driving at 80km/h.
He was arrested on July 27 when police saw him getting into a stolen car in Port Melbourne.
A search of the car uncovered numerous stolen items including hockey equipment, tech items, $1500 in cash, whisky and a projector, alongside a jimmy bar, two spanners, a pry bar and an extendible baton with the words “n---a stick” engraved on the side.
On Friday, the court heard Magri had begun his drug use at 18 years of age.
At the peak of his addiction he was taking 1.7g of ice and 150ml of GHB daily.
The court heard Magri considered his offending, particularly the assault of the woman on Toorak Rd, to be “disgusting”.
Magistrate Peter Reardon wasn’t convinced of Magri’s apparent remorse, saying the escalation of his offending was “concerning”.
“There is no explanation to the offending other than him being in a drug haze,” he said.
Mr Reardon said the Toorak Rd assault was “ferocious”.
“Punching a woman to the ground like that is the sign of a bully and a coward,” he said.
“His conduct is reckless and dangerous is the way he operates.”
Mr Reardon characterised Magri’s offending as having a “degree of professionalism” due to the weapons and the collaboration with other co-offenders.
“You’ll be spending your life in jail the way you’re going, or if you continue taking drugs you’ll end up dead in the street.”
Magri was sentenced to serve 30 months behind bars with a 21 month non-parole period.
He was granted 276 days time served for the period of time he had already been in custody.
Magri was convicted and fined $2000 and his licence was also cancelled for four years.
