Thomas Smith pleads guilty to carjacking, theft, trespass

A newspaper delivery man was making his morning rounds when a recently released jailbird jumped in his car and punched him during a violent carjacking, a court has heard.

Thomas Smith in 2017. On Wednesday, he appeared on a prison link from the Metropolitan Remard Centre bald and with a long beard.

A recently released jailbird punched a newspaper delivery man during a violent Corio carjacking, a court has heard.

Thomas Dylan Smith, 34, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to eight charges, including carjacking, multiple counts of theft, two counts of trespass, tampering with a motor vehicle and driving while disqualified.

Crown prosecutor Yildana Hardjadibrata told the court Smith was driving a stolen Kia Cerato down Geelong-Ballan Rd in the early hours of May 9 2023, when one of the wheels came off.

After crashing into a ditch, Smith, who had been released from prison only a few weeks prior, flagged a passing motorist down and got a lift into Geelong.

The man dropped Smith off at the BP service station on the Princes Hwy in Corio at 5.50am after beginning to get a “weird vibe”.

Smith loitered at the service station until a delivery driver arrived to drop off newspapers.

The man left the engine of his Nissan Pulsar running while he grabbed the papers from the back seat.

Smith jumped into the driver’s seat and the driver dived in after him, Mr Hardjadibrata said.

Smith repeatedly tried to push the man out of the car, and drove to the service station exit.

As the car moved, Smith punched the driver in the face “once or twice”, the court heard.

Smith told the victim: “Just leave the car”, however the victim refused and pulled the handbrake.

Smith quickly fled, taking the driver’s wallet and phone with him.

Around 7am, Smith trespassed in a nearby business, before he was sighted again at 8.30am, tampering with a 1974 Holden ute on Station St.

That afternoon, Smith fled when police appeared on Michigan Ave and was seen climbing onto a shed in Ontario Ave, before eventually being arrested in the bathroom of a home on Harpur Rd.

Smith’s lawyer, Briana Proud, said her client was institutionalised after spending “almost all” of the past decade behind bars and would upon release find himself transient and with minimal support.

He had a difficult and dysfunctional childhood, the court heard, but had grown beyond it and become a productive member of the community with a stable, full-time job.

However, his life came “off the rails” in his mid-20s following a relationship breakdown and a friend’s death, Ms Proud said.

Smith’s drug-use and offending led to the loss of his job and housing, and bouts of “drug-induced psychosis”, the court heard.

However, Ms Proud said Smith was motivated “break through” his institutionalisation, an outlook which she said could very easily have fallen away.

“(He’s) very committed to returning to gainful employment and have structure, purpose and routine back in his life,” she said, noting he planned to reside with his mother in Ballarat and had work lined up.

“He is motivated to be part of the community again.”

Judge Gregory Lyon said he didn’t doubt Smith’s desire to reform was genuine, but said he needed time to consider his sentence.

Smith will be reappear in court at a later date.

Originally published as Thomas Smith pleads guilty to carjacking, theft, trespass