Tongala woman accused of trailer theft

Nov 2, 2021

A woman has been denied bail following a Katunga burglary. Photo by Getty Images

One of two people who allegedly stole a trailer from a Katunga property and hit the elderly owner over the head when he caught them in the act, has been refused bail.

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Linda Milzewski, 53, of Tongala, unsuccessfully applied for bail in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Monday, October 18.

She is charged with burglary, theft, criminal damage, recklessly causing injury, intentionally causing injury, failing to stop on police direction, committing an indictable offence while on bail, attempted theft, unlawful assault and trespass.

The police informant, Cobram Crime Investigation Unit’s Senior Constable Phil Armstrong, told the court Milzewski and a co-accused drove to the property on Katunga-Picola Rd at Katunga on October 12.

The court heard when the 87-year-old owner of the property saw his trailer attached to a white ute near the sheds, he headed over on his mobility scooter to investigate.

The trailer was stacked with copper and metal, Sen Constable Armstrong said.

The elderly man was hit on the back of the head with an unknown object, Sen Constable Armstrong said.

The court heard the man awoke to see the ute drive past him with the trailer attached, as he lay on the grass.

The man was taken to hospital at Goulburn Valley Health with three lacerations to his head.

CCTV footage from Katunga township captured the registration plates of the ute and trailer as it was driven past and phone records showed Ms Milzewski’s phone pinging off a nearby tower at the time, Sen Constable Armstrong said.

The court was told that three days later police tried to stop Ms Milzewski on the Kotupna-Barmah Rd at Kotupna while she was driving another vehicle but she accelerated away from them despite police having their lights and sirens on.

She was arrested the following day at her co-accused’s parents’ house in Yalca.

The court heard that in a police interview, Ms Milzewski admitted they regularly attended vacant farms and took scrap metal and sold it to metal dealers.

However, she denied being at the Katunga property.

Representing herself in court, Ms Milzewski sobbed as she said she would “not do that stuff” and that she just wanted to go home to her daughter.

Magistrate Peter Dunn refused bail.

“You were on bail. Within a few days at court you were involved in a burglary and theft where a person was attacked and could have died,” he said.