A woman who took advantage of a couple’s kindness and lied her way into their Wendouree home will stay in jail after her application for bail was refused in the Ballarat Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
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Madison Miller, 22, is charged with multiple offences arising from an incident at Wendouree in May, including attempted armed robbery, trespass with intent to steal, reckless endangerment, assault with a knife, and two counts of assault causing injury.
The court heard that at 10pm on 11 May 2018 Miller knocked on the door of a Wendouree house saying she needed refuge from her boyfriend and a domestic abuse situation and asking to charge her mobile phone.
The house owners, aged in their 60s, allowed the accused into their home and later offered her a bed for the night. The court heard that, after being shown to a spare room, the husband went to his room and the wife stayed downstairs to watch TV.
It is alleged that soon after, the accused went into the couple’s bedroom where the man was in bed. She allegedly said to the man she would do “anything dirty” he wanted in exchange for the car keys and a phone. The man said ‘’no’’ but that he would drive her where she needed to go.
The accused then allegedly threatened the man with a large bread knife and demanded the car keys. The man recognised the knife as one from his kitchen, and tried to cover it with the doona to blunt it.
It is alleged the accused then ran downstairs and the man, fearing for the safety of his wife who is partially deaf, chased the accused into the kitchen and tried again to take the knife. The court heard Miller kicked and bit the man and then hit him with a saucepan, before being eventually subdued and arrested.
The court was told Miller is also facing other charges and is already on a Community Corrections Order for other offences.
The court heard that Miller was asked about her circumstances on the night of her arrest and that “she did not provide any information or evidence about domestic violence issues.”
The arresting officer said he did not consider the drug-free period while in custody a deterrent for the acccused. “In my experience, it’s the first thing they do,” he said.
Magistrate Robinson said despite Miller’s “sad and sorry history” and the 67 days served in custody, he did not feel “compelled to grant bail.”
“The accused has used her gender and stature to gain trust and has then abused that trust,” he said.