A carjacker who ordered a cheeseburger and stole an Uber driver’s car in Doveton before dangerously evading a police pursuit has been jailed.
Zoe Voice, then 22, made the Uber order on her phone, then with two male co-offenders preyed upon the delivery-driver in his 2006 Toyota Yaris about 2am on 27 November last year.
As the driver got out of his car, one of the males emerged with an extendable baton – which the driver thought was a knife or sword.
The man demanded the driver’s car key and phone, then he and Voice got in the car and sped off.
The Uber driver – an international student who had worked and saved hard for the car and phone – tried to open the driver-side door.
He was then threatened by another male in the street, holding what appeared to be a knife.
“If you try to argue with me, I’ll f*** you – so go away,” the male said.
The Yaris stopped several hundred metres away and Voice swapped into the driver’s seat due to her companion being unable to control the car.
Later that morning, police spotted Voice erratically driving the car at excessive speeds through several Cranbourne West streets.
Police used stop-sticks to deflate all four tyres of the Yaris, and pursued with lights and sirens.
However Voice continued driving, until coming to a stop on a median strip in Evans Road.
A bottle of 1,4-butanediol was found in the car, which Voice’s co-offender admitted was his.
In a police interview, Voice’s responses were that she couldn’t remember anything or didn’t know.
Voice pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to carjacking and dangerous driving while pursued by police.
In sentencing on 30 June, Judge Wendy Wilmoth said the driving was “extremely dangerous, fast and erratic”.
She noted the victim “lost so much and still suffers emotionally”.
Left out on the street without a car or phone at night, he called out for help. No one came out to assist, so he knocked on a resident’s door to call triple-0.
Since the incident, he felt completely alone and unprotected, Judge Wilmoth said.
The threats with a weapon still played on his mind each day, no longer left his home at night and slept with lights on.
Voice, now 23, had served several short jail stints and breached three community correction orders since first appearing in court in 2021.
Much of her offending occurred while in an abusive, drug-taking relationship with a man – who has been jailed for other offending.
In 2024, she was released on a CCO with little progress. She became depressed after bowel-removal surgery for ulcerative colitis, and relapsed into GHB and ice use.
This was the context for her most recent offending, which she had little recollection of, Judge Wilmoth noted.
Voice had shown little remorse, other than an early guilty plea, the judge said.
Carjacking carries mandatory jail unless in exceptional circumstances.
Voice’s lawyer conceded that no exception applied.
Taking into account Voice’s youthfulness, Judge Wilmoth said her sentence would combine jail with an opportunity for drug-addiction treatment on parole.
Voice was jailed for three years and three months, with an 18-month non-parole period.
Her term included 216 days in pre-sentence remand.
Voice was also disqualified from driving for two years.
