Milk-truck theft (Vic.)

The mentality of a thireteen I think that he maybe over qualified compared to some I seen

Hi guess that his lawyer had him in court with a fresh haircut, a business suit, and looking as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

From Fri.24.8.12 Melbourne 'Age'
www.theage.com.au/victoria/milk-run-ends...k.html#ixzz24PSKY9ch
Milk run ends with bail on a host of charges.
DRIVING a 42-tonne prime mover he had stolen, which was carrying a tanker loaded with 22,000 litres of milk, Maurice Collie stopped to pick up a hitchhiker, a court has heard.
Collie was pursued by police for the next two hours over a distance of between 150 and 200 kilometres.
He wanted to see how far he could go in the stolen vehicle.
Collie, 20, of Maffra, who has a cognitive impairment and the mental age of a 13-year-old, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday for a bail application.
Senior Constable Adam Tavinor told the court Collie had left his aunt's house at 3am last Saturday and walked to the Stoitse Transport yard at Maffra to steal a truck.
He had found the prime mover's keys inside the vehicle and started it up.
Senior Constable Tavinor said Collie tried to release the tanker containing the milk but was unsuccessful.
So he drove off with the milk before stopping at Morwell to visit some friends, but they were not home so he continued on, the court heard.
Along the way, Collie picked up a 60-year-old hitchhiker.
The alarm was raised just after 3am when an employee at the Stoitse Transport yard found the truck had been stolen.
Police were called and found the truck, fitted with a GPS tracking device, at Morwell but Collie refused to pull over.
Senior Constable Tavinor said police placed stop sticks - tyre-deflating devices - on the road near Nar Nar Goon but Collie continued driving.
Collie was eventually arrested when the truck stalled on the Police Road off-ramp in Noble Park North.
Senior Constable Tavinor said both men refused to get out of the truck so police had to smash the windows.
Police are yet to interview the hitchhiker who was taken to hospital with a ''dodgy hip''.
The court heard Collie later told police he had decided to steal the truck because the company had sacked his father and owed him money. His father later denied this was the case.
Collie had claimed he was aware police were chasing him but he didn't want to stop.
''He wanted to see how far he could go in the stolen vehicle,'' Senior Constable Tavinor said.
Collie, who did not have a valid driver's licence, had allegedly put the community at risk by driving the truck at speeds of up to 90 km/h during the two-hour police chase.
Collie is charged with stealing a Western Star prime mover valued at $130,000; stealing a tanker trailer containing 22,000 litres of milk valued at $76,000; two counts of driving the prime mover from Maffra without a licence while evading police at high speed, which placed people in danger of death when the prime mover had lost the rubber on the left front wheel; driving unlicensed and without a permit; failing to stop for police; and driving carelessly.
Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg released Collie on bail with strict conditions.
The case was adjourned to the Bairnsdale Magistrates Court for a committal mention on November 21.

From Fri.24.8.12 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'
www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/milk-...frf7kx-1226456705232

Milk truck thief led police on two-hour chase, court told. A YOUNG man charged with stealing a fully laden milk truck wanted to see how far he could drive in the stolen vehicle as he led police on a two-hour pursuit along the Princes Highway, a court has heard.
Sen-Det Adam Tavinor, of Dandenong CIU, told Melbourne Magistrates

Has anyone else noticed that the prime mover weighed " 42 tonnes " ?
Bit over-specced for a milk tanker eh?
Wonder what the trailer tares at....