A motion activated native animal camera inadvertently left turned on captured crucial evidence of an axe wielding home invasion which has led to a Framlingham man being jailed for almost five years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Donald (DJ) Chatfield, 34, of Framlingham, and Jamie (Boss) Chatfield, 45, of Grovedale, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court on February 22.
DJ Chatfield was jailed for four years and nine months with a minimum three years to serve.
He has spent the past two years in custody after being arrested by members of the Victoria Police special operation group and charged with firearms offences on October 21, 2016.
SOG members raided a Warrumyea Road property in the culmination of an operation targeting drug trafficking and firearm-related violence committed during the previous couple of months.
The firearms seized included a loaded sawn-off 410 shotgun, a sawn-off double barrel shotgun believed to be stolen from Halls Gap, a sawn-off air rifle and a .22 pen pistol.
DJ Chatfield now has about another two years to serve before being eligible for parole.
Boss Chatfield was not sentenced on February 22 after there was a disturbance in the Melbourne County Court and he was removed from the court.
He will be sentenced on Friday this week by judge Paul Grant.
Previously police allege in a committal hearing that an incident happened at a Garvoc farm house about 6.30am on Sunday, March 14, 2017.
Resident Nathan Chatfield, a cousin of DJ Chatfield and nephew of Jamie Chatfield, said he heard a noise, got up and went to the toilet and then returned to a couch in his lounge room to go to sleep about 6.30am.
He said his two dogs jumped on him and he knew the back door was open and someone was in his home.
Mr Chatfield said his cousin walked in and then stood over him.
He said he knew from the way DJ was talking he wasn't just there to see him and that he was unhappy.
Mr Chatfield said he stood up and was put in a headlock from behind by DJ with a tomahawk axe across his chest before there was a conversation about a claimed $300 debt, drugs and guns.
He said DJ hit him to the head as hard as he could and eventually he was knocked out.
"DJ had a f...n axe at my neck," he said in the highly-charged and packed court room which included nine police officers.
Mr Chatfield said there was a tense 30 seconds when his employer Daniel Thompson walked in and asked if everything was all right.
He said he thought there was going to be a fight.
"DJ said nothing was going on, everything was right. 'Nat is going to come and see me tomorrow'," he said.
Mr Chatfield said he realised after the pair left that the other man was Boss Chatfield, especially after seeing the camera footage.
He said a mate had put two motion cameras on his mantelpiece which he was going to set up in the bush the following day.
Mr Chatfield said one of the cameras had been inadvertently left on.
"It was not put there on purpose. I didn't know it was on," he said.
Mr Thompson said he received a phone call at the dairy from Nathan Chatfield's partner who whispered that Nathan needed his help about 6.50am.
He said he gained entry to the house through the back door and saw two men in a doorway.
"I heard an argument between Nathan and a couple of people," he said.
"I called out 'Hi boys, what are you doing here? Nathan said ‘f... off DJ’.
"The two boys started punching Nathan again. I stood there watching. DJ started punching Nathan and then the other bloke started as well.”
Mr Thompson said he walked outside to check on Mr Chatfield's partner, who was in his car, and told her to lock the doors, before going back inside and the two intruders then left.
Mr Chatfield suffered injuries to his head and chest.
Senior Constable Nick Roberts said the motion camera footage consisted of about 100 still images.
He said if the stills were played quickly it was like footage and clearly showed the axe and the men involved.
