AN ice-using young mum involved in a Bonnie and Clyde style south-west crime rampage has been jailed for six months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mikaela Jo Cacek, 22, of Gippsland, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to 30 charges mostly relating to burglaries and thefts.
Magistrate Cynthia Toose said most of the premises were soft targets such as sporting clubs, op shops and farm houses.
She said it was accepted that Cacek was not the primary offender and she had been using ice, but she should have simply said 'no' to being involved in the offending.
The magistrate said that at 22 years old Cacek was capable of being rehabilitated.
"I hope you wake up to yourself. This was an extremely serious escapade of offending," she said, noting that Cacek had already served 108 days in custody.
Defence counsel Amanda Chambers likened the offending to infamous criminals Bonny and Clyde.
She said the crimes spanned from Mornington to Warrnambool and it was a spectacular entry into the criminal justice system.
"It's like something out of a movie," she said.
Police said that on October 19 officers attended an address to arrest Ms Cacek and a co-accused in relation to a stolen Subaru Forster vehicle.
The couple fled to a red Mitsubishi Triton which was then reversed through a veranda and a back fence placing four people in significant danger.
That vehicle was later dumped and a Mitsubishi Magna stolen, which was recovered in Melbourne.
The couple is then alleged to have carried out a series of offences across the south-west, starting with a burglary at the Cobden Golf Club which netted cash.
"They have then gone around the district loading a stolen Toyota Hilux with stolen goods," police prosecutor Senior Constable Kevin Mullins said.
Two cash registers and a hospital collection tin were stolen, items valued at $1730 were taken from Warrnambool’s Sacks The Jewellers after a front window was smashed with a hammer and then there was an attempted burglary at the Wangoom Store.
A car was also stolen at Terang and there was an unsuccessful attempted break-in at a Terang op shop where Cacek was captured on security camera footage.
Entry was also forced into a Mortlake farm house and the contents of a trailer stolen.
The court heard there was security camera and forensic evidence to link Cacek to the crimes and a .22 firearm was found in one of the dumped vehicles.