Supreme Court: Kayle Hansen pleads guilty to manslaughter of Rosebud man Jake Bradford
A man high on Xanax mowed down a young Rosebud man in remote bushland after a drug-fuelled crime spree in a stolen car.
South East
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A drugged-up Korumburra man was on a crime spree in a stolen car just hours before brutally killing a young Rosebud man.
Kayle Hansen, 27, appeared at the Supreme Court on Friday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in relation to the death of Rosebud man Jake Bradford.
The court heard Hansen ran over Mr Bradford with a stolen black Nissan Patrol in remote bushland near Foster North and Turtons Creek in January 2023 after a “big night on Xanax”.
The court heard earlier in the night Mr Bradford was picked up by a friend in a blue Honda Civic and a woman he hadn’t met before who he spent the night with doing drug runs across Melbourne’s southeast.
Police tried to intercept them, but the trio got away.
At the same time Hansen and James Vos — the co-accused who has since died from unrelated work injuries — were driving around the West Gippsland area in a stolen black GQ Nissan Patrol, breaking into and stealing from several local businesses.
Later that night, the woman along with Mr Bradford drove to the Bass Coast to spray paint the car and avoid detection.
The woman then messaged Vos, who was with Hansen, complaining she’d been “dumped with this cooked funny simple c---, my mate’s mate” who had money in his bank account adding: “Do whatever you want with him”.
The group — Mr Bradford, Hansen, the woman and Vos — spent the day driving around and taking drugs before Mr Bradford and the woman were separated from the others.
After an argument, she left Mr Bradford stranded on the roadside near Camp Rumbug.
Later, Hansen told the woman and Vos he planned to rob Mr Bradford of his bank cards and returned to the area in the Nissan Patrol with Vos.
The court heard Vos then struck Mr Bradford with a breaker bar, before Hansen ran him over “a couple of times” in the stolen Nissan.
Mr Bradford was also stripped of his clothes and shoes before the pair dumped his body down an embankment and set fire to his clothing.
Mr Bradford’s skeletal remains were found in October 2024 by a local in a creek bed near Dollar-Woorarra West Rd.
Hansen told friends he’d been on a “Xanax bender” and wasn’t sure what he had done.
Hansen was later arrested.
The court heard Mr Bradford had fallen in with “the wrong crowd” and had started using drugs in the years before his death.
On Friday, in a victim impact statement read to the court, his mother, Genevieve Bradford, said she was forced to give up work after losing her son.
“There are no words to actually describe how I feel. He was my baby,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t just lost Jake. When Jake went missing, his father, Paul, was dying of cancer. Paul passed away on 21 February 2023, and the next day detectives knocked on my door to tell me Jake had been killed.
“Jake’s body was found, and it was good to have him back, but not much of him was left which was heartbreaking.
“He wasn’t just my son — he was my best friend. We were soulmates.”
Family friend Tracey Wiggerink told the court the pain Hansen had caused was “far more devastating” than he could imagine.
“You had a choice, and you chose to end his life — someone who solely trusted you,” she said.
“Jake was far too young to leave this earth.”
Aunt Melissa Maier said she was still haunted by Jake’s death.
“(I don't know) how someone could take away his life. I still can’t wrap my mind around it; how another human being can look at someone they know and decide to end their life.
“I can’t comprehend how this has happened, why someone would do such a thing. It’s a question that haunts me daily, and it leaves me feeling lost, broken, and unable to make sense of it.
“I feel different and broken in a way I don’t know how to fix.”
The matter will return to court later this month for the continuation of the plea.
Hansen faces a total effective sentence of nine-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of six-and-a-half years, after accepting a sentence indication earlier.
