By Brendan Rees
A carjacking thug who dragged a pregnant woman out of her vehicle by her hair in Cranbourne North during a two-day crime spree has been jailed.
Joshua Kirby, 28, pleaded guilty to a litany of charges including carjacking, unlawful assault, unlicenced driving, possess drug of dependence and drive in a manner dangerous during a Victorian County Court sitting on 6 August.
He was sentenced to three years and five months in jail.
In his sentencing remarks Judge John Carmody told Kirby his offending was a “series of rolling events, where you went from one victim to another”.
“You presented yourself to each of your victims in a violent and frightening manner,” Judge Carmody said.
The court heard Kirby, an Aboriginal man and father-of-one, had been out of jail for six months he demanded a woman to hand over her keys at Southland Shopping Centre carpark on 29 November, 2019.
As the woman was knocked to the ground the drug-addled man snatched her keys and drove off in her Toyota RAV4, which was captured on closed-circuit television, the court was told.
Less than an hour later, the court heard Kirby slammed the stolen RAV4 into the back of a woman’s car that was stopped at the intersection of Warrigal and Dandenong roads at Oakleigh, before driving off.
The next day he punched a man in the face as he was filling up his car with fuel at a 7-Eleven on South Gippsland Highway at Cranbourne North. The man fought back and Kirby fled the scene, the court heard.
Five minutes later at 12.25am, the court was told Kirby ploughed into a Subaru WRX head-on that was stationary at the intersection of Courtenay Avenue and South Gippsland Highway at Cranbourne North.
Kirby then approached the car and punched the windscreen of the driver’s side, where a pregnant woman was seated with her husband next to her.
“You opened the driver’s door and grabbed (the victim) with both of your hands and tried to drag her out of the car. She leant back and tried to fight you off.”
The court was told Kirby yelled at the couple to get out of the car as her husband heard him say, “I’m going to kill you” before he pulled the woman’s hair and
“dragged her onto the ground”.
Kirby drove off in the Subaru WRX but crashed into a power pole soon before approaching neighbours who were awoken by the incident. The court heard Kirby demanded to hide in their garage but the occupant agreed to drive him to an accommodation site to get him away from their house.
Kirby was arrested after the car was intercepted by police, who found a small amount of methylamphetamine in a ziplock bag in Kirby’s clothing as well as a meat cleaver in the RAV4.
In a victim impact statement, one of the women had been left traumatised with a “fear” of going about her normal activities.
The court heard Kirby dropped out of school at year 7 and worked as a farm labourer. His sister said when not drug affected, Kirby was “a kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable man” who was proud of his Aboriginal culture.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Carmody said Kirby’s prospects of rehabilitation were guarded given his extensive criminal history dating back to May 2011 and drug use.
“Your victims have each lost a peace of mind, their peace of mind to go about their lives without being fearful of unknown risks of violence to them,” Judge Carmody said.
