A WANGARATTA driver who fled police in Tone Road and was followed along the Hume Freeway by police helicopter to Melbourne, where he was arrested at gunpoint, has been given a nine month jail sentence.

Jordan Omozusi, 21, appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including the most serious charge of dangerous/negligent driving while being pursued by police.

Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Heath Dosser told the court that police observed Omozusi driving along Tone Road on January 8.

The court heard that the defendant, whose probationary driving licence was suspended, was wanted over a series of alleged driving offences, including travelling at up to 135 km/h in 60km/h zones in Wangaratta in recent weeks.

Ld Sen Const Dosser said that on January 8, Omozusi accelerated away at around 130km/h in an 80km/h zone, with police choosing not to pursue him.

The court heard he continued to speed along the Hume Freeway, using the left hand lane to overtake, and driving in the emergency lanes to pass vehicles.

Omozusi then erratically wove his way around Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs for around an hour from 2pm, driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, driving along nature strips, cutting across lanes of traffic and at one point going the wrong way around a roundabout.

Ld Sen Const Dosser said Omozusi narrowly avoided pedestrians as well as a bus and several other vehicles before a collision with a light blue sedan in Braybrook ended his joyride.

The court heard the driver of the light blue sedan suffered an ankle injury and minor shock and Omozusi failed to stop to assist the victim.

THE family of 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg, who was allegedly murdered by 30 year old Bowe Maddigan in Wangaratta last October, put up a united front in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Some 20 family members – including Zoe’s mother, who was clutching photos of her daughter – and close friends filled the court room, while Maddigan appeared via video link, as the court determined a committal hearing date.

Maddigan is facing a charge of murder, and sexual assault charges, over the death of Zoe on October 25 last year.

Office of Public Prosecutions prosecutor Marwan Elasmar said 14 witnesses would be called for the hearing, which was set down for three days from May 4 to 6 in Wangaratta.

Mr Elasmar said a key witness, a Wangaratta police officer, may not be available for the hearing but every effort would be made to get her to court.

Maddigan’s barrister, Stephen Payne, did not make an application for bail on his client’s behalf.

Zoe’s uncle, Matt Carmody, spoke outside the courthouse after proceedings, reiterating the family’s desire for justice.

“We were here for one reason and that was for Zoe and it’s just a short step in a long process,” he said.

“We’ve got a great network of people around the family helping everybody, and also the community of Wangaratta

“Zoe’s mum’s going as good as can be expected – it’s a traumatic thing for any family to go through and any loss of any family member, especially a child is always hard.

“We’re just a very united front at the moment.”

Tears welled in Mr Carmody’s eyes as he described Zoe as a “fantastic” little girl.

“It’s going to be a long process, we understand that, and we thank Victoria Police for the fantastic job they’ve been doing.

“I cannot fault Victoria Police and the wider Wangaratta community for the support they’ve shown.”

Mr Carmody said a similar show of family solidarity could be expected at the hearing in May.

“Always, that’s just the family we are, and we will continue to be that family,” he said.

This post is part of the thread: Inchbold Street homicide – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

THE alleged Wangaratta president of the Tramps Outlaw Motorcycle Gang was yesterday granted bail, after more than a month in custody on drug and firearm charges.

Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Harding, 50, of South Wangaratta, appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates Court to apply for bail with legal counsel, after initially being refused it and remanded in custody on January 8 when he made his own application.

Harding is facing some 45 charges, including attempting to traffic a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence, possessing chemicals believed to be for manufacturing drugs and possessing a traffickable amount of firearms.

Policer prosecutor Sergeant Mario Eliades told magistrate Stella Stuthridge yesterday that police opposed bail on the basis that Harding was a flight risk and a risk of re-offending.

Police informant Senior Constable Matthew Finger told the court two search warrants were simultaneously executed at Harding’s home and at the Tramps’ clubhouse on January 6, with police seizing large quantities of drugs including methylamphetamine, speed, cannabis, LSD, MDMA, and precursor ingredients to manufacturing methamphetamine such as iodine and pseudoephedrine.

Police also seized notebooks with lists of several thousands of dollars allegedly owed to Harding for drug transactions, commonly referred to as ‘tick lists’.

Sen Const Finger said police also seized several firearms from Harding’s property as well as 15 tubes of explosives totalling six kilograms, and detonating paraphernalia from the clubhouse.

He said the drugs and precursor ingredients are yet to be analysed but are expected to add up to a ‘commercial quantity’ of methylamphetamine, which is defined at 250 grams.

Sen Const Finger also said police allege Harding has ties to the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and further allege he was buying large quantities of methylamphetamine from the MC to sell in Wangaratta.

This post is part of the thread: Tramps clubhouse raid – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

THE alleged ringleader of a multi-million dollar drug syndicate based in Wangaratta is set to be sentenced today.

Jessica Fogarty, 26, of Wangaratta, has been in custody since her arrest after her home and several other premises were raided as part of Operation Juliet in September 2014.

It has previously been heard in court that Fogarty is facing several years’ jail for her drug crimes.

Police allege she was at the head of a $2 million drug ring that ran out of Wangaratta between 2010 and 2014.

Initially facing more than 50 charges, she entered guilty pleas to nine charges, including trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, in September last year.

A commercial quantity is defined as at least 250 grams, a value of $250,000.

Following her plea, details of Fogarty’s alleged drug trafficking were heard in the Melbourne County Court in December.

Police evidence relies heavily on phone taps to Fogarty’s mobile phones, which allegedly revealed details of selling and sourcing drugs and other illegal behaviour.

A MID-LEVEL player in a drug syndicate running out of Wangaratta has been sentenced to five months jail.

Jamie Partington, 24, of Wangaratta faced Wangaratta Magistrates Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking a drug of dependence in 2014.

He also faced a number of driving offences for which he was convicted and fined $400 plus $117 in costs.

Crown prosecutor Max Perry said Partington trafficked methylamhetamine, commonly known as ice, between January 2014 and his arrest in September 2014, when local police broke up the multi-million dollar drug syndicate.

Mr Perry said Partington was provided with a house by the ringleader of the syndicate, Jessica Fogarty, 26, to complete drug deals and had an “extensive involvement” in the drug ring.

The court also heard he collected debts for Fogarty and dealt methlyamphetamine to support his own habit and was not dealing the drug for monetary gain.

A LOCAL magistrate has expressed his concern over drunken violence in Wangaratta.

Wangaratta magistrate Ian Watkins presided over a case last week in which a 27-year-old driver ended up reversing over another man who was attacking his car.

The court heard a group of six drunken males were walking along Ryley Street at 3.55am on October 14, 2014 when one threw a bread roll at a passing car, causing the driver to hear a bang.

The driver, who the court heard was “simply trying to get home” with his passenger, stopped the car to check for damage and was approached by the male who threw the bread and a verbal altercation ensued.

The court heard the man who threw the bread walked away from the argument but the group of males then surrounded the car, kicking and punching it while the driver and passenger were inside.

The driver’s defence solicitor said the 27-year-old “was in fear of his life” and put his car into reverse to scare one of the males away from the rear of his car but ended up running him over, dragging him for 60 metres down the road while driving at a speed of 10 kilometres per hour.

When the driver realised the man was under his car, he immediately stopped the vehicle and ran to a nearby house for help.

He was arrested and interviewed by police a short time later.

The court heard the injured male, who received lacerations to the left side of his body, had a blood alcohol level of 0.241 per cent at the time of the incident.

Mr Watkins said the behaviour of the drunken group exemplified the type of violence the Wangaratta community was growing increasingly concerned about.

SHE once sat atop a sophisticated drug syndicate in Wangaratta, living a lavish lifestyle and influencing the availability and price of the drug ‘ice’ in the North East region.

But 26 year old Wangaratta woman Jessica Fogarty will spend at least the next three years in prison for her crimes after being sentenced at Wangaratta County Court yesterday, some two months after pleading guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine (ice) and trafficking cocaine.

The sentencing follows on from a lengthy investigation into the syndicate as part of ‘Operation Juliet’, in which local police used phone taps to bring down the drug ring, and charge more than 50 people with their alleged involvement.

In reading out a summary of Fogarty’s crimes before handing down his sentence, Judge Frank Gucciardo said the drug syndicate was worth “several million dollars” and dealt in not only ice, but several other illicit drugs and prescription drugs between 2010 and Fogarty’s arrest in September 2014.

He said the syndicate was run by Fogarty, allegedly in conjunction with her boyfriend and co-accused Matthew Tymms, 24, who has pleaded not guilty, and another Wangaratta woman, Jessica Short, 25.

The court heard the syndicate built up its value over the four years, with Fogarty at one point exchanging $40,000 cash for ice.

Judge Gucciardo said Fogarty accepted stolen property and electronics in exchange for amounts of ice and employed standover men to settle drug debts, with Fogarty once forcing a drug dealer to give up his car and burgling another’s home when they could not pay.

He said Fogarty estimated she was owed between $5 and $10 million in drug debts from dealings, prior to her arrest.

THE main supplier of methylamphetamine to a Wangaratta drug syndicate was sentenced to eight years’ jail yesterday.

The Wangaratta County Court heard 51-year-old Minh Quang Lam was the main supplier to the multi-million dollar syndicate running out of Wangaratta between early 2010 and September 2014.

Judge Frank Gucciardo said Lam sat just below ringleader Jessica Fogarty, 26, whom he sentenced this month to a minimum of a further three years in jail, on top of the 18 months already held in custody.

He said Lam, a Melbourne resident originally from Vietnam, supplied Fogarty some $900,000 worth of the drug ice between 2013 and their arrests in 2014, with the average price of an ounce (around 28 grams) costing Fogarty $8000.

The court heard Fogarty made some $74,000 worth of drug payments to Lam through a TAB betting account and the pair used code to discuss their trade.

Judge Gucciardo said Fogarty also relied on Lam for protection, with Lam once tipping Fogarty off that a motorcycle gang was looking for her residence in order to collect a $40,000 drug debt.

He said Fogarty also supplied Lam with firearms and relied on him to collect her debts.

“You once tied up and tortured a person while she was listening on the phone,” Judge Gucciardo said.

A COROWA man who narrowly avoided jail when he was convicted in the Wangaratta Magistrate’s Court on Thursday of a vicious assault last November in the city’s riverside precinct has been ordered to donate $10,000 to Northeast Health Wangaratta.

Burr Lee, 44, was told by magistrate Stella Stuthridge that contemporary society did not allow people to be beaten – even if his victim “had been Attila the Hun”, the relentless barbarian warrior king from fifth century Europe.

The court heard that Lee and the victim, a 28-year-old Wangaratta man, had been guests at a wedding reception at the Precinct bar and restaurant in Wangaratta on November 14.

Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Heath Dosser said that closed circuit television footage showed Lee and the man walking the footpath between the Ovens River and Café the PreVue shortly after midnight on November 15.

The recording showed the pair then stopped walking near a double metal rubbish bin and Lee then punched the man, who collapsed – apparently unconscious – with his head between the two bins.

The footage – which the magistrate later released to the media – then showed Lee lifting the man by his shirt collar from where he was lying and punching him with another eight blows to his face.

A JURY was yesterday empanelled in Melbourne’s colonial-era Supreme Court complex to try a Perth man accused of the double murder of his parents near Wangaratta in 2013.

The trial of Ian David Thomas is listed to open this morning in court four, Melbourne’s original central criminal court, which has remained for 132 years the setting for many of Victoria’s murder trials.

Thomas, from the Perth suburb of Balga, was 35 when he was apprehended in Meredith on April 23, 2013, and arrested and charged with the murder of Pauline and Bill Thomas at their East Wangaratta home.

Police alleged at a committal hearing in Wangaratta in July 2014 that Thomas had murdered the couple on or about April 22, 2013.

Thomas pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

Defence counsel Peter Faris QC last year told the Supreme Court that his client would use self-defence as an argument to deny that he murdered Mr and Mrs Thomas.

The trial is to be heard by Justice Lex Lasry and is expected to last for up to four weeks.

Peter Rose SC is to lead the case for the prosecution.

– Wangaratta Chronicle court report, Melbourne Supreme Court

This post is part of the thread: Thomas murders – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

A JURY of five women and seven men on Friday heard prosecution and defence opening arguments in the double murder trial of a Perth man accused of killing his parents near Wangaratta almost three years ago.

Ian David Thomas, 38, was led into the central criminal court of Melbourne’s Supreme Court complex dressed in a dark suit and open-necked white shirt with blue trim on the collar.

He looked composed as he was brought into the dock.

The jury, empanelled yesterday, then entered the court to begin trying the case before Justice Lex Lasry.

Thomas has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder.

Peter Rose SC, for the prosecution, told the jury that the crown would contend that on an East Wangaratta farm in the afternoon of April 21, 2013, Thomas strangled his mother, Pauline Thomas, 63, to death with a cable tie.

The crown would also set out to prove that the former electrician – one of five children of the couple – later that day in his parents’ house shot his father, William Thomas, 65, in the chest with a single-barrel shotgun, killing him.

But Theo Kassimatis, for the accused, said the defence would argue that the crown’s case was entirely circumstantial.

He said the defence would set out to prove that it was William Thomas who murdered his wife of 40 years, and that their son had arrived home to find his father holding a shotgun.

He told the jury that they had struggled, Thomas had disarmed his father, and had then shot him in self-defence.

Mr Kassimatis said there would be no dispute from the defence that Ian Thomas had caused his father’s death.

But the defence would set out to show that his mother’s death was “an entirely different matter”.

The court moves to Wangaratta on Monday where the jury will be shown the farm house where police discovered the bodies of Mr and Mrs Thomas at about 9.50pm on April 22, 2013.

– See Monday’s Chronicle for the full story.

This post is part of the thread: Thomas murders – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

THE younger daughters of an East Wangaratta couple found dead in their farmhouse almost three years ago have rejected questions that their father was abusive and violent towards his children.

The evidence of sisters Jacinta Thomas and Madonna Sheffield in the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne at the murder trial of their 38-year-old brother, Ian Thomas, is consistent with evidence given earlier by their aunt and cousin.

Ian Thomas has pleaded not guilty to the double murder of his mother, Pauline Thomas, then 63, and father, William Thomas, then 65, on an East Wangaratta property on April 21, 2013.

Crown prosecutor Peter Rose SC has told a jury of 13 that the crown contends that Thomas strangled his mother to death in a farm shed that afternoon and in the early evening used a single-barrel shotgun to shoot his father in the chest, killing him.

But defence barrister Theo Kassimatis has told the court that he will set out to prove that William Thomas murdered his wife of 40 years and that Ian Thomas shot his father in self-defence.

Ian Thomas, formerly of the Perth suburb of Balga, is the middle of the couple’s five children.

He was 35 at the time of his parents’ deaths.

This post is part of the thread: Thomas murders – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

A “MEDIUM level” player who collected debts in a Wangaratta drug syndicate has appealed an 18 month jail sentence handed down on Thursday.

Jason Dale, aged 41, a daily ice user for the past 14 years, pleaded guilty to the charges of trafficking and possession of methamphetamines, handling stolen goods, and failure to supply a drug test sample to police.

The offences were part of a drug syndicate relating to police operation Juliet1, which has already brought on the sentencing of eight other players.

This included syndicate leader Jessica Fogarty, sentenced to seven years jail last month, and main supplier Minh Quang Lam to eight years.

Crown prosecutor Erin Hill described Dale as having regular contact with high level drug dealers and he was trusted by them.

“He was not an organiser and not a street seller but he was in regular association with high level people in the syndicate,” she said.

“The accused collected drug debts, he took property, made contact with suppliers and took drugs from Melbourne into Wangaratta.

“Dale was heavily involved and we are of the belief that an immediate sentence be imposed to offer as a deterrent and a denunciation of the conduct.”

Defence counsel for the accused Markorius Habib lodged an application to appeal the severity of the sentence and Dale was again bailed to appear in the Wangaratta County Court on a date to be fixed.

A 25 year old Wangaratta woman accused of being the co-ring leader in a multi-million dollar ice syndicate yesterday pleaded guilty to five charges, including trafficking methylamphetamine.

Jessica ‘Jes’ Short, who is currently on remand at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne, appeared before Judge Frank Gucciardo in the Melbourne County Court, and admitted trafficking methylamphetamine between January 10, 2014 and August 5, 2015.

The charge carries with it a maximum sentence of up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Short also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a registered general category handgun (pen pistol), a prohibited weapon (taser), two charges of dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, and possessing a drug of dependence (Cannabis L).

Police prosecutor Max Perry told the court Short was at the higher end of the syndicate which was operating in Wangaratta and throughout the region at the time.

A SENIOR forensic pathologist yesterday told a Victorian Supreme Court double murder trial that one of the Wangaratta victims died from injuries consistent with strangulation.

Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine senior pathologist Michael Burke was giving evidence in Melbourne about his post-mortem examinations of the bodies of Pauline Thomas, then 63, and William Thomas, then 65, which were found in the couple’s East Wangaratta farmhouse three years ago.

Former electrician Ian David Thomas, 38, the pair’s third child, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his parents at the property on April 21, 2013.

Dr Burke confirmed that – after the discovery by police of the bodies in the farmhouse sitting room the following evening – he had performed autopsies in Melbourne.
He said that something thin and patterned had abraded Mrs Thomas’s neck.

He said that a cable tie had physical characteristics highly consistent with the injury which she had sustained.

Mrs Thomas also had other injuries consistent with what he described as neck compression.

Defence barrister Theo Kassimatis told the court when the trial opened on April 1 that it would be argued that William Thomas murdered his wife of 40 years and that Ian Thomas had shot his father in self-defence.

The trial before Justice Lex Lasry continues today.

This post is part of the thread: Thomas murders – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

A VICTORIAN County Court judge yesterday praised the character, grace and stamina of a mature woman who in 2013 was raped in her home and then walked her attacker out the door before raising the alarm.

Judge Marilyn Harbison – sentencing 63-year-old former Wangaratta man Garry William Gray to prison – said that in her years as a judge she had never seen a rape survivor tell her story with such dignity and plain common sense.

Judge Harbison said the events that occurred in a Wangaratta house on a night early in 2013 would never leave the woman.

But she hoped that the victim, with her “great strength of character”, would be able to marshal her reserves and enjoy her life with her many friends.

Judge Harbison noted Gray’s guilty plea and his remorse and sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment on a charge of aggravated burglary at the woman’s house and 11 years on the charge of rape.

But because of the intertwined nature of the offences and the court’s obligation not to impose a penalty that would be considered crushing, Gray will serve an effective sentence of 12 years in jail.

He will be eligible for parole in six years.

He has already spent more than three years in custody and this would count as time already served, the judge said.

ACCUSED murderer Ian David Thomas has told a Victorian Supreme Court jury that as a young boy, growing up on a Wangaratta farm, he and his brother and a sister were constantly abused by their father.

Thomas, now 38, a former electrician, is defending in Melbourne’s central criminal court charges that on April 21, 2013, he murdered his 63-year-old mother, Pauline Thomas, and 65-year-old father, William Thomas, at the couple’s East Wangaratta property.

Defence counsel Theo Kassimatis told the court when the trial opened on April 1 that it would be argued that William Thomas strangled his wife of 40 years and that Ian Thomas had shot his father in self-defence.

Today – on the sixteenth day of his trial before Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry – Thomas entered the witness box in his own defence and answered questions from Mr Kassimatis about the childhood he had spent with his siblings and parents.

He said that his father, a one-time shearer and later a livestock cartage contractor, had been a “pretty angry” personality.

As a boy Ian Thomas had felt “scared most of the time” when he was near his father.

The court heard that William Thomas had disciplined three of his children – Bernadette, the eldest child, Ian, the middle child, and John, the youngest – but not their sisters, Jacinta and Madonna.

Ian Thomas, answering Mr Kassimatis, said that his father used to call him a “f…… c…, f…… a…hole, useless c…, wasted f…, that sort of thing”.

The accused will continue to give evidence on Tuesday.

This post is part of the thread: Thomas murders – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

WANGARATTA woman Jessica Short has been sentenced to 8 ½ years in jail for her role in trafficking ‘ice’.

Appearing before Judge Frank Gucciardo in Melbourne County Court on Friday, the 25 year old was given a non-parole period of 5 ½ years, with the 395 days she has been in custody counted as time already served.

Judge Gucciardo told Short that if not for her guilty plea – which prevented a protracted criminal trial – she would have received a heftier sentence of 12 years with a non-parole period of 7 1/2 years.

He said that Short had been at the ‘apex’ of criminal trafficking of ‘ice’ in Wangaratta and surrounds in 2014 and 2015, both in partnership with Jessica Fogarty as part of a major local syndicate, and then out on her own when the pair fell out.

The court heard she boasted about “her cronies” and “little slave boys” doing her business, and had the audacity to resume trafficking drugs when out on bail.

Judge Gucciardo said her motivation was both greed and financing her own drug habit, and she had no regard for the damage the drugs were doing to the lives of others or society as a whole.

Full story in Monday’s Chronicle.

A JURY has found Ian Thomas guilty of murdering his mum and dad at their East Wangaratta farm three years ago.

The jury took just under two days of deliberation to deliver its verdict to Justice Lex Lasry in the Melbourne Supreme Court shortly after midday.

The jury found Thomas murdered his father Bill Thomas, 65, and mother Pauline Thomas, at their farm on April 21, 2013.

Mrs Thomas had been strangled to death with a cable-tie and her husband was shot and his body bashed.

Thomas had pleaded not guilty, telling the court his father had killed his mother and he had killed his father in self-defence.

Thomas will remain in custody until sentencing, which is not expected for several months.

This post is part of the thread: Thomas murders – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

WANGARATTA psychiatrist Jennifer Ellix decided that alleged rapist and murderer Bowe Maddigan on October 28 last year was not suffering any mental impairment when she finished assessing his fitness for a police interview.

Dr Ellix was giving evidence yesterday before Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt at the accused 30-year-old’s committal hearing for the rape, sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old schoolgirl Zoe Buttigieg in Wangaratta on October 25 last year.

Victorian Legal Aid defence lawyer Stephen Payne has been seeking throughout the hearing – which opened on Wednesday – to demonstrate that Maddigan had been mentally impaired at the time of the alleged offences.

But Dr Ellix said that while she did not think Maddigan was fit for police assessment on October 26 and 27, she found him on October 28 not to be “medically unwell”.

She said while Maddigan was under observation in the Kerferd mental health unit at Northeast Health Wangaratta she had found no evidence to point to a “factitious disorder” – a description of a condition in which people consciously act as if they have an illness of some kind.

She confirmed that she had made a statement to police that Maddigan had not appeared to be “confused or cognitively compromised”.

But she said there had been inconsistencies in the way in which he presented and, because she had not met him before, it required time to make her assessment of his mental health.

This post is part of the thread: Inchbold Street homicide – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.