A Sebastopol man who attempted to get away from a house he had allegedly just robbed, only to get bogged on the way out, will face court next month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday heard Benjamin Kendell and a co-accused allegedly broke into a Mitchells Road property at Linton on October 3, leaving with more than $8000 worth of goods including a television, firearms and model trains.
The court heard the accused’s car then became bogged on the property.
It is alleged the men went to another address and stole a car, which then broke down on the way back to the house.
They then stole a second car from another address, but were interrupted by police as they loaded the items inside the car.
Kendell was on bail at the time for matters dating back to June.
In relation to those matters, the court heard police allegedly found two longarm firearms, five machetes, a cattle prod, crossbow and .22 caliber ammunition at the accused’s Hertford Street address on June 17.
Kendell told police at the time he found one longarm weapon at a farm he was working on and the other had been dropped off to him by a friend.
He had no reason for the other weapons.
Kendell’s lawyer, Jacob Kantor, said all firearms had been recovered by police and there were no allegations any had been used in other crimes.
He also said drugs were a motivating factor which could be addressed by a stint in a rehabilitation facility.
If released on bail, Mr Kantor said Kendell would immediately be driven to a rehabilitation facility in Burwood where he would remain until his next court appearance.
With conditions to abide by the rules of the facility, in addition to strict bail conditions, which included reporting to police and an exclusion from the Ballarat area, Mr Kantor said it did show cause why Kendell should not be kept in custody.
But the court heard from the director of the facility who said while they had a strong relationship with police and would notify them if the accused breached bail, the facility did not have the capabilities for the accused to be supervised 24/7.
Not satisfied with the evidence about the facility, magistrate Cynthia Toose refused Kendell bail.
Kendell was remanded into custody and will reappear in court on December 22 for a contest mention.
