By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A MAN, who allegedly roamed Cranbourne with a hammer and machete and was found with .22 calibre hollow-tipped ammunition in his pocket, has denied to a court that he was an unacceptable bail risk.
Leigh Andrew Thomas, 36, claimed in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 26 October that he had been drugged and framed by a Castlemaine GP.
His car keys had been stolen and the ammunition was put in his pocket, he said.
During his submission, he described cutting open his own penis using handcuffs while in custody.
Thomas also said he’d been “overdosed by the system” while on methadone, that police had threatened to shoot him, a female associate had been raped, that he’d found up to 15 paedophiles in Castlemaine and that he was facing no more than a $750 fine for his offences.
Informant Senior Constable Warren Frost of Narre Warren police said that Thomas had been reported by neighbours trying to force his way into a Cranbourne house while carrying a hammer and a machete about 4pm on 25 October.
One neighbour told police that a man had been demanding their car keys as he banged on their home’s door, the court was told.
Another saw a man at his front door allegedly holding a machete to his own neck.
When police arrived, Thomas was unarmed but carrying blister-packs of tranquilisers, pain killers and anti-epileptic tablets.
A hammer was found in the back seat of Thomas’s car, whose registered owner lived in Cannons Creek.
Sen Const Frost told the court that Thomas was not fit to be interviewed at the time and was saying that he would slit his own throat.
“He hasn’t changed his drug use and behaviour since being released from prison,” the informant said.
A defence lawyer told an earlier sentence indication hearing that Thomas had lapsed into ice use and was influenced by drugs at the time of the incident.
The applicant was prescribed with Valium for his anxiety, had a diagnosed intellectual disability and an acquired brain injury, the lawyer said.
The court was told that Thomas had supplied several home addresses but their occupants denied he lived there.
One address was of a known Castlemaine drug user, the court was told.
Another person in Cannons Creek claimed that Thomas had threatened to kill him.
Thomas told the court that the Castlemaine home had been visited by somebody who overdosed and that he’d threatened to take the Cannons Creek occupant’s phone to St Kilda Road police.
During the sentence indication, magistrate Barry Schultz said the ammunition was a “very destructive projectile”.
“Any combination of drugs and weapons or ammunition is a concern to the court.
“I can see your client is anxious to get out. His demeanour in the dock has not served him well.”
Mr Schultz declined to give a sentence indication. He rejected bail due to Thomas’s unacceptable risk.
“Come on, seriously,” Thomas responded. “Please don’t do this to me, man.
“I’m not an unacceptable risk.”
Thomas was remanded to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 23 November.
