Dylan Zorkau sentenced over Lovely Banks share house attack, crime spree
A couple who were involved in intimidating a man and woman in a share house dispute also stole designer goods worth thousands of dollars from a Lara home, a court has heard.
A drug addict who came to the aid of a man he “barely knew” and intimidated the man’s housemates during a frightening episode has been given another chance to break the cycle of drugs and crime.
Dylan Zorkau, 29, appeared in the Geelong Magistrates Court via video link on Monday and pleaded guilty to offending across several briefs that spanned August 2024 to January 2025.
Magistrate John Lesser convicted Zorkau and sentenced him to one year’s jail, to be followed by a 15-month community corrections order (CCO).
Zorkau had only been out of jail for eight months when he arrived at a share house in Lovely Banks in January this year.
Zorkau had joined Timothy Thomas, the father of his girlfriend Abynei Lacey, who arrived soon after, in supposedly coming to the aid of Joshua Scicluna who was having a “beef” with his housemates.
Two residents of the share house were terrorised, assaulted and threatened by the four, who were armed with weapons; Scicluna with a homemade gun, Thomas with a baseball bat, Lacey with a knife and Zorkau with an item that “looked like” a gun.
Zorkau is the last of the quartet to be sentenced, with Mr Lesser jailing Scicluna for a year, with a 12-month CCO, and Thomas for four months plus an 18-month CCO.
Lacey, who pleaded guilty to armed robbery in the County Court, was jailed for three years with a non-parole period of two years.
Prior to the Lovely Banks incident, Zorkau was caught with drugs, including ice and GHB, and a foldable knife, in Norlane in August, a police prosecutor told the court.
In November, he and Lacey were passengers in a car intercepted at the North Geelong 7-Eleven, with Zorkau found to have a large white bottle containing 591mL of 1,4 butanediol, as well as ketamine, knuckle dusters and a flick knife.
Later that month, Zorkau was arrested again after fleeing a stolen car that was pursued by police from Doyle Ave in North Geelong until it was stopped with road spikes in St Georges Rd, Norlane.
Zorkau was found hiding under a vehicle and admitted to being a passenger in the stolen car.
On December 11, Zorkau and Lacey burgled homes on Tillys Rd in Lara, stealing designer clothes including sunglasses, high heels and a mini pochette, valued at $4750.
The pair also damaged a Mercedes, snapping off the gearshift and indicators, before attempting to burgle another house in the street.
When police came knocking on December 23, Zorkau attempted to flush drugs down the toilet.
During the search, police also found eight stolen registration plates and a baton.
Zorkau’s lawyer highlighted his disadvantaged and neglected upbringing, which led to a “descent into homelessness and drug use” as a teenager.
Drug use has been a constant part of Zorkau’s life, aside from a four-year period between 2015 and 2019, the court heard.
Zorkau has since been “unable to escape that cycle of drug use and offending”.
His lawyer told the court Zorkau barely knew Scicluna and had “no real connection” to his “beef” with his housemates.
The prosecution had argued a jail sentence with a non-parole period was within range as Zorkau had contravened three previous CCOs, but Mr Lesser ultimately agreed with the defence submission that the community would be best served with Zorkau’s rehabilitation.
“I hope you’ll take this opportunity and run with it,” Mr Lesser told Zorkau.
But for his plea, Mr Lesser said he would have jailed Zorkau for two years with a 14-month non-parole period.
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Originally published as Dylan Zorkau sentenced over Lovely Banks share house attack, crime spree
