Paddle Pop stick helps police catch cold crook after frightening home invasion

An ice-cream stick led detectives to a gun-wielding home intruder who inflicted terror on a mum holding her five-month old baby with a gang of four. This is how.

A discarded Paddle Pop stick led police to a gun-wielding intruder who ate the ice cream during a violent home invasion where a mum and baby were almost Tasered.

Cold crook Tuan Tang posed as a postie before pulling out his gun to get the mum inside her St Albans home before signalling to a carload of four others to storm the suburban home.

As the men stole designer bags, $5000, the security system’s hardware, alcohol, designer jewellery and electronic equipment, Tang, 42, pulled a Paddle Pop out of the freezer and ate it as the victim feared for her and the her five month-old baby’s life.

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The victim initially refused to sit on the couch with her baby and only did so when one of the crooks activated the Taser and she heard the sounds of electric shocks.

Despite the frightening nature of the attack, Tran, found it within himself to put the Paddle Pop wrapper in the bin.

A Paddle Pop stick lead detectives to a gun-wielding home intruder.

But it was the stick detectives found thrown in the gutter that led them to cracking the case after his DNA was found on the stick.

He further implicated himself in jail phone calls where he confessed to being part of the aggravated burglary.

The victim, a mother-of-two, was then able to identify the intruder, who pointed a gun at her and the baby, on a photo board with 12 photos of men.

Tran was not charged for three years, with “ongoing investigations” blamed for the delay.

Tran fled in a luxury Mercedes parked in the driveway after stealing the victim’s car and house keys.

A Paddle Pop stick lead detectives to a gun-wielding home intruder.

In sentencing Tang to seven years jail, County Court judge Irene Lawson said the daylight home invasion — in which two men had guns and one the Taser — was brazen and targeted.

“Any person living in a civilised society ought reasonably expect that they will not be subject to invasion of their homes and such threats of violence,” she said.

“It is a fundamental right that (the victim) should be and feel safe and secure in her own home. Your collective actions were a gross violation of her rights.”

The judge said Tang had a “substantial and disturbing” criminal history including convictions for drugs, firearms, recklessly causing injury and driving offences and was guarded about his prospects of rehabilitation.

“Your actions have had severe consequences. Her life has been forever changed following the events of that afternoon,’ she said.

“She lives in ongoing and constant fear and no longer feels safe in her own home. Her life is not the same.”

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