A man high on ice and armed with a pitch fork entered the homes of two vulnerable women and demanded their keys before stealing their cars, a court heard.
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Andrew Harris, 38, of Highton, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool County Court on Monday to unlawful assault with a weapon and two counts each of aggravated burglary and thefts of vehicles.
The court heard on January 26 last year Harris was heavily drug affected and believed there was a police helicopter following him.
At 6pm he entered a Hoki Street address near Gateway Plaza while armed with a pitch fork where an elderly woman was home alone.
He told the woman he was in hiding and that he was high on methamphetamine.
Harris held the pitch fork about 15 centimetres from the victim's face, demanded her car keys and she complied.
As he exited the property he ripped the woman's landline from the hook so she couldn't call for help.
Harris stole the woman's 2016 Kia Cerato and drove it about two kilometres before abandoning it on Rogers Road and fleeing on foot.
At 6.30pm he entered a Horne Road property and began pacing the lounge room.
After hearing a noise, the second victim went out to the lounge room where she was told Harris was drug affected and that there was a "chopper in the sky searching for (him)".
He poured himself a drink and then demanded the woman's car keys, stating he had to get to Terang.
Harris obtained the car keys and left the property in the victim's 2007 Huyandai i30.
That vehicle was recovered outside Mount Pleasant Road in Belmont, near Geelong, on January 28 last year - two days after the offending.
The car was towed to a security facility in Geelong where crime scene investigations located a mobile phone under the driver seat.
Officers could not access the phone but on February 1, a notification appeared on the screen that listed Harris' email address.
Harris handed himself into police on February 13 after becoming aware that officers were looking for him.
He was arrested and has spent the last 376 days in custody on remand.
Harris' lawyer said her client suffered mental health issues and drug addiction.
She said Harris started using cannabis when he was 14 years old, methamphetamine when he was 21 and heroin at 31.
Crown prosecutor David Cordy said the two victims were "significantly impacted" by Harris' offending.
"How terrified two vulnerable, completely blameless, innocent victims in the sanctity of their own private home would have been," he said.
Mr Cordy said while there were no physical injuries, the mental scarring was evident in the women's two victim impact statements, which were not read to the court.
"This is the worst nightmare for someone minding their own business in their own home," he said.
Judge Higham said people should be feel safe in the own homes.
"Instead, these women were approached by a lunatic hell-bent on taking (their) car," the prosecutor replied.
Harris will be sentenced on Thursday.
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