TWO Western Australians alleged to have stolen a tractor from an Arcadia South property before leading police on a chase through the Seymour CBD were arrested after repeatedly ramming a security fence at Puckapunyal military base. Facing Wangaratta Magistrates Court from custody on Monday, the 36-year-old man and his 38-year-old female partner, both from the rural town of Narrogin, attempted to secure bail following an alleged pursuit along the Goulburn Valley Highway and into Seymour on Saturday morning. Detective Senior Constable Luke Arrowsmith said the pair was alleged to have trespassed at a Mckendrys Road property around 8am, before entering a shed and driving a $150,000 tractor from the premises. Said to have taken a “cocktail of drugs”, the accused were alleged to have narrowly avoided a collision with a small bus on the highway, and drove over a central wire barrier. According to DSC Arrowsmith, the tractor had continued into Seymour, pursued by highway patrol and uniform police vehicles as it travelled at 40kph and almost rolled as it allegedly attempted to navigate a roundabout with its front bucket raised. Military police were subsequently contacted, as the tractor continued towards the Puckapunyal military base, and police officers attempted to block the main access gate. The court heard the tractor had pulled to the nature strip and then rammed a 12-foot security fence at least twice, causing an estimated $50,000 in damage to the Commonwealth facility. Both were subsequently charged with trespassing on Commonwealth land. DSC Arrowsmith said the pair had been travelling through North East Victoria and towards the New South Wales town of Nimbin, before they were expected to return to Western Australia. Representing the male accused, defence counsel Geoff Clancy said his client’s criminal history, which included charges of dangerous driving, had never resulted in a prison sentence, and noted there had been an eight-year-gap in his offending. He noted police were not suggesting the pair had been deliberately driving to Puckapunyal, and noted a bail address with the mother of the co-accused in Warburton had been canvassed. Nancy Battiato said her client did not have a history of failing to answer bail, and urged Magistrate Peter Dunn to order an assessment for a court-integrated services program (CISP) bail undertaking for each of the accused. Mr Dunn obliged, ordering the matters return to court in Benalla on Tuesday. “There is a very, very strong prosecution case here,” he said. “(It’s) probably a case that’s only going to get worse for the clients.”
