Thief who stole ute involved in mass child hit-run in Officer gets more jail time
A thug who stole a ute later used by his mate to mow down seven children and their mum in Officer has been slugged with more jail time.
South East
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A thug thief who stole the ute involved in a kid-crushing hit and run has been given more jail time.
Price Ulutui nicked the vehicle that was later used by a reckless mate when he mowed down seven primary school kids and a mother in Officer in February last year.
Ulutui is already behind bars, serving a County Court sentence for aggravated carjacking of a different vehicle on the same day the children were hit.
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The Cranbourne North man yesterday pleaded guilty by video link to car theft and two corrections order breaches at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard he stole the ute from a Cranbourne North building site on February 8 last year.
Eight days later, on February 16, the stolen ute driven by Ulutui’s mate, Zhane Saiah Su’a, ploughed into the kids and mum Michelle Nash, at the intersection of Grandvue Boulevard and Princes Hwy seriously injuring Ms Nash.
The callous Saiah Su’a fled on foot before being later arrested in Pakenham. He is now serving nine years in jail.
Forensics searches of the crashed ute revealed Ulutui’s fingerprints inside the vehicle and two days later he was arrested in his home.
On the day of the collision Ulutui and others were involved in an aggravated carjacking of another vehicle, where a shotgun was produced.
He was remanded in jail in March last year and was sentenced to 18 months’ jail in the County Court on April 5 this year.
He was already on two community corrections orders for burglary, robbery, assault and theft.
His defence lawyer said he was already set to serve another corrections order upon release and asked for any jail time to run alongside his current term.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said while it was accepted Ulutui had suffered a difficult family upbringing and had an intellectual disability, it was peer pressure that was the problem.
“You’re hanging around the wrong people and getting dragged into committing offences,” Mr Vandersteen said.
“What your friend did in that car (that you stole) was incredibly serious.
“You need to walk away from these types of people.”
Ulutui was given another three months in jail, to serve on top of his current sentence, and is expected to be released in December this year.