A 21-year-old man who took part in a spree of criminal offending has been jailed for four years just days after his sister was allegedly murdered.
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Fletcher McGuire, 21, appeared at the County Court in Melbourne alongside Aiden Gray, 21, to be sentenced for a series of armed crimes the pair committed in late 2022.
The offending spree began on the morning of September 29, 2023, when McGuire and Gray, armed with a knife and wheel brace, demanded the keys of a 2004 Holden Commodore from a man sitting at the Canadian lookout.
During the carjacking, one of the men told the Commodore's owner "I will stab you 70 times" if he did not give over the car.
Prosecution were not able to establish which of the pair were armed with the knife or baseball bat, the court heard.
Both were found guilty of the carjacking in a jury trial which ended on November 22, 2023.
The pair later pleaded guilty to an armed robbery after a confrontation in Bacchus Marsh the day following the carjacking.
The court heard at about 6am on September 30, 2023, McGuire and Gray confronted a man on his way to work at the Apco service station on Gisborne Road.
Gray then got out of the car and said to the man "it's not your car anymore, give me the f*****g keys", while holding a hunting knife.
The man refused, starting a struggle with Gray during which McGuire got out of the stolen Land Cruiser with a steel baseball bat.
A struggle ensued with the then 20-year-old hitting the man, and Gray grabbing the man's keys as they fell to the floor.
The pair retreated to the Land Cruiser which the man had approached. With the passenger side door open Gray spun the car in reverse, with both striking the man partially inside of the car.
McGuire and Gray then drove off, before realising they had left a mobile phone behind at the scene.
The pair returned, and exchanged the phone for the man's Commodore keys.
The hunting knife and metal baseball bat were left behind at the scene.
Both McGuire and Gray were later arrested at a motel in Essendon on October 1, 2022, and have remained in custody since.
At Thursday's hearing, Judge Frank Gucciardo spoke on both McGuire and Gray's criminal history and early drug use.
The court was told McGuire was raised in Clunes to supportive parents, but experienced difficulties in high school - being suspended more than 10 times in year eight due to fighting.
McGuire met Gray at Federation TAFE, where McGuire studied landscaping.
Judge Gucciardo said McGuire had an early exposure to drug use, first taking cocaine at the age of 13, and regularly until the age of 18.
McGuire had prior convictions for aggravated burglary, recklessly causing injury and dangerous driving, for which he had received a prison sentence.
At the time of the carjacking in Canadian, McGuire had been out of prison for only a week. He had also spent a month in a drug rehabilitation facility, funded by his parents, prior to the offending.
Judge Gucciardo also recognised the recent death of McGuire's sister as an additional burden on both him and his family.
"In more recent times your family has suffered from the death of your sister in tragic circumstances," Judge Gucciardo said.
"The cost of this sentence without doubt renders their anguish more acute.
"In a case such as this your offending has meant that you have really jumped from trouble into a raging fire."
Gray experienced early family dysfunction, the court heard, and experienced homelessness by the age of 13.
Like McGuire, Gray had relevant criminal priors and had began regular drug use at a young age.
Judge Gucciardo said both men were considered young offenders, and that a focus on rehabilitation would be a priority.
Despite this, the judge said a prison sentence was unavoidable, due to the nature of the crimes, and legislative requirements for sentencing.
McGuire and Gray were sentenced to four years and five months imprisonment, with non parole periods of three years.
Both have served 558 days of pre-sentence detention.
