Scott Quilliam fronts County Court over New Year’s home invasion

A drug-addled burglar’s vicious attack on a sleeping woman during a New Year’s Day home invasion has been labelled as “entirely gratuitous” and “unnecessary” in a Geelong court.

Scott Quilliam

A court has heard how a terrified, bleeding woman used a curtain rod to fend off a drug-addled home invader, after waking when the man hit her in the head with a broom handle.

Scott Quilliam, 21, appeared in the County Court at Geelong via videolink on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to two counts each of aggravated burglary, intentionally damaging property and theft, one count of recklessly causing injury and obtain financial advantage by deception and a summary charge of driving while disqualified.

Quilliam earlier plead guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court before the matter was sent upstairs.

The court heard in the early hours of New Year’s Day this year, Quilliam broke into a home on Torquay Rd, Grovedale.

Slipping inside through a front window, he turned on the lights in the kitchen and grabbed a set of car keys.

His victim was sleeping in her bedroom, unaware of the intruder. She was home alone as her partner was away.

Scott Quilliam was arrested in Hamlyn Heights after breaking into a second property after using a stolen car to ram the garage doors of several homes. Picture: Channel 7.

Crown prosecutor Fiona Martin told the court that after entering her bedroom to nick her iPhone, Quilliam struck the sleeping woman in the head with a broom handle.

The woman woke, startled and in pain. She looked around, jumping up as she saw the lights were on and Qulliam again raising the broom handle.

Thinking quickly, the woman grabbed a curtain rod to defend herself and was able to fend Quilliam off.

The terrified woman then ran outside, bleeding from the cut to her head, and flagged down a passing car.

Meanwhile, Quilliam ransacked her home, loading his loot into the victim’s car and speeding off.

Later, Qulliam, who was two weeks into a community corrections order (CCO) for similar offending, broke into the garage of a home on a quiet Hamlyn Heights street before being arrested.

Ms Martin described the vicious assault on the sleeping woman as an “entirely gratuitous act” and “entirely unnecessary”.

“It wasn’t as if he was confronted by the victim parkway through an aggravated burglary,” Ms Martin said.

She said the victim has been left with lingering effects, had moved house and effectively “jumps at shadows” since the incident, as she no longer feels safe.

Quilliam’s lawyer, barrister Jonathan Barrera, told the court a combination sentence of some more prison time, followed by a CCO was in range, which the prosecution agreed.

Mr Barrera pointed to Quilliam’s youth, early guilty plea and a psychological report, which concluded Quilliam suffered from major depressive disorder, as mitigating factors.

Quilliam “suffered disadvantage in his formative years”, Mr Barrera told the court, being exposed to violence and starting to abuse drugs as a teen.

However, Quilliam has been proactive in custody and had completed a number of courses, the court heard, showing he had good prospects of rehabilitation.

He was genuinely remorseful and regretful, Mr Barrera said, noting he had been engaging in mental health treatment “for the first time in his life” and was now medicated.

Quilliam will be sentenced at a later date.

Originally published as Scott Quilliam fronts County Court over New Year’s home invasion