Kenneth Hodgson, 27, appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Monday on charges including driving offences, shop thefts and making a threat to kill.

Senior Constable Marcus Uren told the court he came across Mr Hodgson and his partner sitting in a broken-down vehicle on the Loddon Valley Highway on Sunday afternoon. 

Senior Constable Uren said checks revealed Mr Hodgson was wanted for theft, so he was placed under arrest.

It is alleged he then became abusive towards his partner and warned her not to talk to the officer, telling her he would “knock” her dead.

A later evidentiary breath test at the station recorded Mr Hodgson’s blood alcohol level at 0.066, Senior Constable Uren said, and methamphetamine was also detected in his system.

Senior Constable Uren said he saw Mr Hodgson sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Mr Hodgson is alleged to have committed a theft on June 22 at the Coles supermarket in Lansell Plaza, from where $300 worth of meat was stolen.

Senior Constable Uren said Mr Hodgson and an unknown female accomplice were also responsible for the theft of two pairs of sunglasses, worth $450 each, from the OPSM store in Bendigo Marketplace in July.

Later that month, Mr Hodgson and a female accomplice are also alleged to have stolen three bottles of liquor from the BWS bottle shop in Kangaroo Flat.

Mr Hodgson is also charged with the theft of a generator worth more than $600 from the back of a ute.

Senior Constable Uren said Mr Hodgson had denied any criminality and denied he had been driving, in an interview following his arrest.

The court heard Mr Hodgson held a suspended learner permit.

The court also heard Mr Hodgson is due to appear in the Echuca Magistrates’ Court next month for a series of alleged offences.

He is accused of stealing number plates from a Bendigo vehicle and attaching them to his father’s vehicle, before he and two unknown male accomplices attempted to break into Rochester Motorcycles shortly after 3am on July 1, which was captured on CCTV.

Senior Constable Uren told the court Mr Hodgson and two unknown males attended the Rochester Mitre 10 store a short time later and the two males tried to break in, but were disturbed by a vehicle and fled the scene.

At 6.50am that same morning, it is alleged Mr Hodgson and an unknown male accomplice drove to Tools Unlimited in Epsom, from where they stole more than $3400 worth of goods.

Shortly afterwards, Senior Constable Uren said, the vehicle in which they were travelling was involved in the theft of $84 of petrol from the Epsom Woolworths petrol station.

The next day, it is alleged, police officers recognised Mr Hodgson driving the vehicle in Bendigo and twice attempted to intercept it, but Mr Hodgson ran red lights and was speeding, so pursuits were abandoned.

He was later arrested by officers from Echuca, but denied any involvement.

Mr Hodgson will appear in Echuca Magistrates’ Court on October 9 and in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on October 15.

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