Warning after more cars stolen in aggravated burglaries

GIPPSLAND is experiencing a spate of car thefts after aggravated burglaries in the past week, including at Leongatha last Monday when the alleged offender was caught and charged.

Other offences were reported at Wonthaggi and Inverloch.

Speaking to Gippsland ABC Radio last week, Inspector Peter Fusinato of the Baw Baw police district, followed up his report of a worrying escalation in these types of incidents with a warning about the need for increased security at home and around cars.

“I've got a printout of here of last week's crime and aggravated burglaries are a very common occurrence across all of Gippsland unfortunately.

“So, starting at one o'clock last Monday morning (July 22), there was an aggravated burglary in Ogilvy Street in Leongatha where offenders gained access by cutting the flywire screen on the bathroom window which was obviously open. They’ve stolen keys to two cars and then stolen one of the victim’s cars, a Mazda 3 sedan that was later located in Kilcunda."

A youth offender was processed by Leongatha Police in relation to that incident.

“And I believe there was a youth that was arrested from Leongatha in relation to that incident.”

He also detailed similar incidents at Morwell, Traralgon, Inverloch and Wonthaggi.

“Seven in the past week across Gippsland. And, again, in every one of these cases someone has been home either asleep or unawares and have woken up to hear a noise or see their car leaving.”

Gippsland South MLA Danny O’Brien says the State Government needs to better resource local police, but also urged the community to play their role in tackling local crime.

Mr O'Brien said he was concerned at recent reports of an upsurge in crime and antisocial behaviour in Leongatha in particular, as well as other towns around the Gippsland South electorate.

“I've been campaigning for better police resources from the State Government for some time now and was pleased that nearly 2500 South Gippslanders signed my petition that was recently tabled in Parliament,” said Mr O’Brien.

“Our local police do a great job, but they are significantly under resourced and need more support from the government.

“However, in talking to Leongatha police in the past week, they've highlighted that many of the thefts from homes and vehicles have been opportunistic with people leaving their homes and cars unlocked and even with keys clearly visible."

Mr O'Brien said it remains a concern that there is a revolving door of criminals being arrested by police but immediately released by the courts.

“The Allan Labor Government likes to blame the courts, but this is a direct result of their changes to bail laws earlier this year, including removing the crime of ‘commit offence while on bail’.”

Mr O'Brien said South Gippsland remains a relatively low crime area, but noted crime is up nearly two thirds since the Labor Government came to power.

In Victoria there were 37,001 offences of burglary/break and enter recorded between March 2023 and March 2024 according to figures released in June by the Crime Statistics Agency. In Bass Coast there were 205 recorded incidences with 16 of those residential aggravated burglaries, while in South Gippsland that figure dropped to 165 incidences of burglary/break and enter with only one residential aggravated burglary.

Additionally, there were 164 recorded motor vehicle thefts in Bass Coast and South Gippsland whilst police recorded 263 'steal from a motor vehicle' and 15 aggravated robberies.

Recent data (year ending March 2024) shows that there were 10 fewer incidents of residential aggravated burglary compared to the previous twelve months, and seven fewer incidents compared to 2022 (2024: 17, 2023: 27, 2022: 24), but both above 2018-2021 (2018: 10, 2019: 12, 2020: 13, 2021: 14).