A man has been given a chance for his brother to attend court to support his application for bail, after two weeks of offending across Ballarat and Bendigo including allegedly driving at police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tristan Stringer, 22, appeared via video link from custody at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Monday.
The court heard Stringer was charged with the theft of three baskets of clothing from washing machines at a laundromat in Golden Point on March 18, 2021.
For more court and crime news, click here
The victim returned to the laundromat to find three of her baskets of clothing were taken from the machines.
Stringer said his mum asked him to pick up her clothes and he thought they were hers.
Stringer is charged with breaching his bail conditions and not complying with his curfew for not being present at his bail address when police arrived in the middle of the night on March 25.
The court heard Stringer allegedly drove to a service station in Warrenheip while unlicensed and using a fraudulent registration plate, filled his car with fuel and left without paying on March 26.
The police nominal informant said Stringer was a passenger in a car with stolen number plates that veered left and hit a power pole on Main Road about 4.10am on March 28.
His driving history places the community and police at serious risk
- Nominal informant
The collision caused a power outage in the surrounding area and the car was believed to be the same one Stringer used in the petrol drive off days earlier.
About 6.20am the same day a Canadian resident woke up to find his ute had been stolen with the keys taken from the kitchen bench.
The home was just more than one kilometre from the collision and Stringer was later seen exiting the passenger seat of the stolen car in Bendigo about 11am.
Stringer was charged with aggravated burglary and theft of the car.
Police were patrolling in Kangaroo Flat on March 30 after reported sightings of the stolen car and saw Stringer allegedly sitting in the car at the end of a court.
The officers drove up and parked their unmarked police car five metres in front of the stolen car.
Stringer allegedly drove towards the officers who had to move out of the way to avoid being hit.
He allegedly sped away from police and drove dangerously after police pursued him with their lights and sirens activated.
The court heard police later found the car at Stringer's mother-in-law's house and found a silver flip knife and axe inside.
Other news:
Stringer was arrested and charged with reckless conduct endangering life and serious injury, failing to stop, driving disqualified, dangerous driving and intentional exposure of police officers to risk while driving.
The nominal informant said he was concerned about the risks of Stringer offending again as he was only bailed on March 23 and began committing serious offences immediately afterwards.
He said Stringer was sentenced for similar offending in 2019.
"His driving history places the community and police at serious risk," the nominal informant said.
Stringer was unlicensed at the time of all of the driving offences.
Representing himself, String said he completed his 12-month community corrections order and had been off drugs, but relapsed during the period of alleged offending after he was kicked out of his partner's house.
He said he would live with his brother while on bail and would be able to get a job landscaping with him.
Stringer disputed some of the charges including the aggravated burglary and driving at police and said he had strong family support and was booked into rehabilitation in Geelong.
"This was all in two weeks when I haven't done anything for 18 months," he said.
Magistrate Letizia Torres adjourned the bail application to allow Stringer's brother to give evidence at court in support of his application.
"There are some things in your favour," she said.
"You are young. It is in the community's interest that you rehabilitate, you're only 22.
"But I am very concerned about how quickly your behaviour escalated."
Stringer will return to court next week.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark bendigoadvertiser.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter @BgoAddy
- Follow us on Instagram @bendigoadvertiser
- Join us on Facebook
- Follow us on Google News