Brodie Wastell jailed over aggravated carjacking

A carjacker who attacked a good Samaritan with a large kitchen knife has learned his fate, with his complex psychological history playing an integral role.

Brodie Wastell pleaded guilty to three offences. Picture: Supplied.

A carjacker armed with a large kitchen knife who violently attacked a good Samaritan has been jailed.

Brodie Wastell, 20, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Friday via videolink from Barwon Prison, having this week pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, attempted aggravated carjacking, and aggravated carjacking.

Wastell, along with two alleged co-offenders, falsely imprisoned a man at knifepoint, making him drive through Geelong’s south before attempting to steal his car on July 1 last year.

The man eventually fled his car with the keys after being directed to pull over at Wilsons Rd, and tried to get help.

A woman stopped thinking there was a medical emergency but was instead assaulted, including being slashed in the hand and leg with a knife by Wastell, before her car was stolen.

The woman was left traumatised by the incident, with Judge Gregory Lyon telling Wastell his actions caused “great damage” to her, both physically and mentally.

Wastell was sentenced to 28 months jail, with a non-parole period of 15 months.

The crime was a serious example of the offences, the court heard, and while Wastell was not the “instigator” of the incident, he was armed with the knife and took the lead role.

Sentencing Wastell was not a simple process, the court heard, as he had a myriad of mental health diagnoses that influenced his behaviour and an IQ of about 60.

He has been variously diagnosed with disorders including ADHD, autism, opposition defiance disorder, substance-use disorder, anxiety and depression, as well as an intellectual disability and lesions to his frontal lobe.

The court heard Wastell “struggled with almost every relationship” he had and often became aggressive due to his frustration.

It was a pattern that continued in prison, the court heard, with Wastell moved from the Metropolitan Remand Centre to an isolated management unit of Barwon Prison due to issues with other inmates.

Judge Lyon concurred with a previous sentencing judge in concluding Wastell’s mental impairments had a causal relationship with his offending.

Because of this, his moral culpability was reduced and some sentencing principles did not apply as they had less relevance to a mentally disabled offender.

However, Wastell’s intellectual disability and cognitive impairment also complicated his prospects of rehabilitation, Judge Lyon said.

After “some anxious consideration”, Judge Lyon said he could impose a sentence that would allow Wastell’s NDIS plan be best used to facilitate his return to the community.

However, he noted sentencing judges must assume an offender will serve every day of the sentence they’re given, without regard as to whether or not a parole order is made.

Judge Lyon said but for his guilty plea, he would have jailed Wastell for a maximum of three-and-a-half years.

Wastell had 225 days already spent in custody reckoned as time served.

Originally published as Brodie Wastell jailed over aggravated carjacking