TWO young men, the first of a group of wannabe home invaders who packed into two cars, armed themselves with a 12-gauge shotgun, a knife and three baseballs bats and tried, unsuccessfully, to commit a home invasion at Valentine, have been jailed for their roles in the bungled break-in.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Madden Wickens-Paynter, 22, and Cyrus Osaki, 21, were two members of a group of nine who marched up to the front door of a home in Berringar Road and demanded to be let inside.
But the target of the home invasion, who the nine hoped to exact some form of revenge on, slept through the whole thing and the victim who met the group at the front door didn't even know if they had the right house.
"What are you talking about with your family?" the woman who answered the door in the early hours of May 11, 2019, to find a gunman and a group of other balaclava-clad, heavily armed young men on her front steps. "I don't know who your family is because I don't know who the f--- you are. I don't know if you're at the right house cause I don't know who the f--- you are."
Paynter and Osaki both pleaded guilty to using an offensive weapon in company with intent to commit an indictable offence and were the first two members of the group to be sentenced in Newcastle District Court on Wednesday.
Judge Laura Wells, SC, said she was sentencing the pair on the basis that neither knew that one of the nine - the ringleader, a man who recruited the others to join him in the home invasion - was carrying a firearm.
Judge Wells sentenced the two men to a maximum of 22 months jail. Osaki was ordered to serve a non-parole period of 12 months, while Paynter, who had a more compelling subjective case, will be eligible for parole after nine months.
