Melbourne teen charged after Tarneit home invasion

A teenager has been charged over an aggravated home invasion in Melbourne’s west that left a woman with facial injuries.

Habitat Court in Tarneit., where a woman was left with facial injuries after an alleged home invasion. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with robbing a woman in her own home and stealing a car, three weeks after she was attacked.

Victoria Police arrested the young man yesterday morning and charged him with aggravated home invasion, theft of motor vehicle, theft, possess proceeds of crime and trafficking a drug of dependence.

A 34-year-old woman, of Tarneit in Melbourne’s west, drove into her garage on August 17 and was allegedly followed into her home by four youths.

They allegedly ransacked her house and stole her car.

She was allegedly punched in the face when they demanded car keys. One of the youths was wielding a machete, police said at the time.

The youth arrested today is not charged with assault.

A Victorian Police spokeswoman said the male, who cannot be identified due to his age, was arrested by officers attached to Operation Wayward, which has targeted youth offenders.

“Taskforce Wayward detectives have charged a boy following an aggravated home invasion in Tarneit on Friday 17 August,” she said, “ Detectives executed a search warrant … (yesterday) morning about 7.45am.”

“During the Habitat Court home invasion, a 34-year-old woman sustained facial injuries and her Hyundai sedan was stolen.”

Police said an 18-year-old Werribee man and 17-year-old Tarneit man were both arrested on 3 September in relation to the incident and were released pending further inquiries.

“ The teen is appearing before a children’s court,” a police press release said.

A week after the robbery, Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton told Melbourne’s 3AW radio he was confident detectives would catch the alleged robbers, but said there was an issue with correcting the behaviour of repeat youth offenders.

“We’re absolutely seeing the same offenders repeat offending, so we’ll absolutely nail them,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell on August 23.

“We are continuing to arrest the same people again and again so when they’re out, there is this kind of core group. The community is working with them and we do things to get them off offending but they’re pretty resilient — they like to reoffend.”