A young woman who has a “habit” of abusing good Samaritans should not be jailed but rehabilitated in the community, a court has been told.
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In her latest unprovoked attack, Madison Miller tried to rob an elderly couple with a knife in their own home before kicking, biting and hitting one of the victims with a saucepan.
After knocking on their front door at 10pm on May 11, Miller falsely told the Wendouree couple – aged in their 60s – she was fleeing an abusive partner and needed to seek refuge and charge her mobile phone.
But Miller, aged 22 at the time, demanded the male give her his car keys and phone before threatening him with a bread knife and lunging at him three to four times.
At a plea hearing in the County Court at Ballarat on Wednesday, defence barrister Ray Alexander said a jail sentence would not adequately rehabilitate his client.
He said when released from jail, if a jail sentence was imposed, Miller would be left to her own devices and she would highly likely end up back in custody.
Mr Alexander submitted 270 days already served in custody and a community corrections order would be a sufficient sentence.
“I would ask Your Honour to look at this offending against her extremely difficult background,” Mr Alexander said.
Judge Frank Gucciardo said the Wendouree incident followed similar recent offending.
“She has made a habit of abusing good Samaritans. This is serious offending, in particular in relation to her priors which don’t go well for her rehabilitation,” Judge Gucciardo said.
The prosecution said the offending was serious given the impact it had on the victims and Miller had been given two CCO’s within months of the incident.
Crown prosecutor Bill Stougiannos said Miller knocked on the door of a Wendouree house at 10pm on May 11, telling the owner she needed refuge from her boyfriend who had assaulted her, and asked to charge her mobile phone.
He said the owners, a married couple aged in their 60s, allowed the accused into their home and offered her a bed for the night because they felt bad for her.
After being shown to a spare room, the husband went to his room and his wife stayed downstairs to watch television.
Mr Stougiannos said soon after, the accused went into the couple’s bedroom and told him she needed a cuddle before saying she would do “anything dirty” he wanted in exchange for his car keys and a phone.
The man said ‘’no’’ before Miller said, “sorry I have to do this”, and produced a bread knife.
Mr Stougiannos said the accused threatened the man with the knife and demanded the car keys. He tried to cover the knife with the doona to blunt it.
Miller then ran downstairs and the man, fearing for the safety of his partially deaf wife, chased the accused into the kitchen and tried again to take the knife.
She kicked and bit the victim before hitting him with a saucepan. He held her on the floor until police arrived.
Miller pleaded guilty in September to attempted robbery and recklessly causing injury over the incident.
She cried in the dock during the plea hearing while one of the victims sat in the gallery with his back to her. Miller was remanded in custody until sentencing.