Geelong’s biggest court cases of 2024
From love triangles settled with meat tenderisers to bank robberies, commercial drug trafficking and rape trials, it was a busy year in Geelong’s courts. Here are some of the cases that stood out.
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Courtrooms aren’t easy places to spend time.
From civil disputes, custody disputes and divorces, to criminal trials and hearings, they see sides of our community often kept behind closed doors.
Some of the biggest criminal cases end up before the County or Supreme Courts – serious crimes involving serious charges.
The County Court at Geelong sat for 10 circuits in 2024 and throughout the year dozens of Pivotonians were called upon to fulfil their civil duty and sit on juries.
Juries hold a special but vital place in the legal system; laymen and women invited to be the arbiters of the facts and decide the guilt or innocence of their peers.
The jury system is one of the foundational tenets of Victoria’s justice system, a fact more than one judge reminded prospective jurors as they sat in jury pools.
Several trials resulted in acquittals and one jury was even discharged after the judge overseeing the case caught Covid.
Judges, too, faced hard decisions of their own.
As he ordered 21-year-old Scott Quilliam to serve a maximum of six years in prison, Judge Gerard Mullaly acknowledged the weight of such a sentence.
“To send a young man to jail for some of what should be the best years of his life is a grave step not taken lightly,” Judge Mullaly said.
Here are some of the biggest cases of 2024, starting with the trials:
Jason Wayne Comer
With his face covered by sunglasses and a black surgical mask, Jason Wayne Comer used a shotgun – concealed in an Aldi shopping bag – to steal $2500 in coins from the Bendigo Bank on April 30, 2021.
The bank bandit was found guilty by a jury in April, following a week-long trial in the County Court at Geelong.
In July, he was jailed for a maximum of 13 years – minus the more than three years he’d already spent behind bars – with a non-parole period of 10 years.
Comer’s criminal career, including more than 20 previous armed robbery convictions, was laid bare by sentencing Judge Michael Tinney.
Troy John Pyle
Lara painter Troy Pyle stood trial in the County Court at Geelong in May and was found guilty by a jury of numerous child sexual abuse charges.
The charges included sexually assaulting a child under 16 by touch and sexually penetrating a child under 16, all committed against one then-14-year-old victim in 2019.
While his defence had attempted to paint the victim as a “troubled teenager”, the jury found the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
At a plea hearing following the trial, the victim’s impact statement – read by a prosecutor – described the mental and emotional toll Pyle’s actions had on her.
In December, Pyle was jailed for a maximum of six years by Judge George Georgiou, with a non-parole period of four years. Judge Georgiou told the court Pyle had shown no remorse and continued to deny his offending.
Christopher Oakley
Christopher Oakley stole a car – but he didn’t “jack” it.
Following a trial in early October, Oakley was acquitted of aggravated carjacking, and an alternate charge of carjacking, but found guilty of a lesser charge of theft of a motor vehicle.
The prosecution alleged Oakley committed a savage carjacking that left the victim battered and bloodied; however, the victim’s credibility was questioned, and the jury ultimate found the prosecution’s carjacking case was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Judge Michael O’Connell convicted Oakley and sentenced him to 9 months in jail, reckoned as time served.
Robert Evans
While his partner played piano in the next room, former nurse Robert Evans orally raped another man.
Evans was found guilty by a jury of rape by compelling sexual penetration and sexual assault following a trial in the County Court at Geelong in December.
There was never any dispute Evans and the victim had a sexual encounter involving oral sex following an afternoon spent drinking together with Evans’ partner at his home, however Evans had argued the man willingly consented.
In his closing address, crown prosecutor Andrew Moore asserted Evans had “invaded the body of a man who was effectively rendered helpless”.
The jury, in finding Evans guilty, agreed.
Evans will reappear in court at a later date.
Not every case makes it to trial – some of the biggest cases of the year were resolved by a guilty plea before a jury was needed.
Ivan Deak Jr
Ivan Deak was initially charged with murder after he drunkenly bashed his elderly father in August 2022, days before the elderly man died of a stroke in hospital.
The matter had been set to go before a trial in Geelong but the charges were downgraded to manslaughter before Deak eventually pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious injury.
The 62-year-old was sentenced to four years jail, with a non-parole period of two years and two months, in the Supreme Court in October.
The sentence meant Deak was eligible to walk free with time served.
In his sentencing remarks, Justice John Champion spoke of the “unique” circumstances that led to the savage bashing.
Todd Hubers van Assenraad
A court heard the crimes of Todd Hubers van Assenraad, who groomed, sexually abused and raped nine boys between July 2016 and January 2023, were “utterly immoral”.
The 38-year-old pleaded guilty in August last year to sixteen charges related to sexual abuse and possession of child abuse material, and fronted the County Court in Geelong for a plea hearing in November.
Hubers, a regular churchgoer, was a member of the Geelong Revival Centre, a controversial Pentecostal group based in Norlane.
Prior to handing himself in to police in January 2023, Hubers made some confessions to the church’s late pastor, Noel Hollins, however there was a delay before police were contacted.
Hubers will be sentenced in 2025.
READ MORE.
Ricky Blackney
Ricky Blackney strangled a woman, slammed her head into a car, drove a car at her and threatened her with a hammer and a fake gun in a terrifying two-day ordeal.
After pleading guilty in the County Court at Geelong to six charges stemming from the December 2022 spree, Blackney was jailed for four years and two months by Judge Gerard Mullaly.
He will spend a minimum of two years behind bars, minus the 147 days he previously spent in custody.
Blackney was on bail at the time of his sentencing, meaning he was sent back to prison.
Judge Mullaly said Blackney’s violence only had to be described for “decent-minded people to recoil” and condemned his choking of the victim as “brutal and highly dangerous”.
Scott Quilliam
Quilliam rung in the New Year in 2024 by bashing a sleeping woman after breaking into her home, before stealing her car and attempting to ram-raid homes in Hamlyn Heights.
The Newcomb man’s January 1 crime spree earned him a non-parole period of three years and 10 months behind bars, with a maximum of six years.
Speaking when he sentenced Quilliam in November, Judge Gerard Mullaly described the 21-year-old’s actions as “a nightmare that sends chills through decent members of our community”.
In a letter Quilliam wrote to the court, he acknowledged the hurt he caused “my community, my family and myself”.
Had Quilliam not pleaded guilty, he would have been jailed for eight years.
READ MORE.
Kyle Bloom
A drug-addled Kyle Bloom attacked his uncle with a meat tenderiser in 2023, after discovering the man was in a relationship with Bloom’s ex-partner.
Bloom pleaded guilty in May to charges including aggravated burglary and unlawful assault and in July he was jailed by Judge George Georgiou for 23 months, a minimum of 13 months, minus 335 days of pre-sentence detention.
Bloom was serving a community corrections order (CCO) at the time of the assault.
He was drug affected at the time, but Judge Georgiou said being under the influence of illicit substances was not an excuse.
Alex Urquhart
Recidivist drug trafficker Alex Urquhart is no stranger to courtrooms.
He spent much of his 20s behind bars and will now spend a substantial amount of his 30s there, after pleading guilty in the County Court to commercial drug-trafficking charges.
When Urquhart’s Moolap unit was raided, police found a stolen Volkswagen, weapons, $114,000 in cash, more than 30kg of GHB-mirror drug 1,4 butanediol – 15 times the threshold for a commercial quantity – along with steroids and more than 100g of ice.
Judge Marcus Dempsey said Urquhart’s prospects for rehabilitation were “worse than guarded” and lamented the fact five previous prison terms had failed to stop his offending.
Judge Dempsey sentenced Urquhart to a maximum of seven years and four months behind bars.
He has already served 803 days in custody, reckoned as time served.
Peter Ferris
Truck driver Peter Ferris was sleep-deprived and high on ice when he caused a collision that took the life of a beloved Bellbrae mother.
Ferris appeared in the County Court at Geelong in November after pleading guilty to charges including culpable driving causing death.
He was jailed for a maximum of eleven years and eight months but will be eligible for parole after eight years and four months, minus 873 days already served.
Judge Gerard Mullaly told the court Ferris’ text messages in the lead-up to the crash were “haunting”.
In the text messages, Ferris spoke of sourcing drugs and described how he was experiencing blurred vision while driving due to how exhausted he was.
In one message, Ferris said “one day (his) luck will run out” and “it’s only a matter of time”.
Originally published as Geelong’s biggest court cases of 2024
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