A FATHER yelled out that his baby daughter was asleep in the back of a car as a random man jumped into the driver's seat and fled, a court has heard.
Ryan Lee Harris will remain behind bars after fronting Belmont Local Court on Tuesday accused of carjacking a vehicle at Bennetts Green on Sunday afternoon while a young child was inside.
The police prosecutor argued the community would be put in danger if the 27-year-old man was released on bail.
"The owner yelled out ... that his daughter was in the car," the prosecutor said.
"He still left, with a child in the vehicle."
The prosecutor read through Harris' criminal record and said it appeared he took any chance he was given to steal a car without concern.
Magistrate Stephen Olischlager refused Harris bail and said the "opportunistic and random" nature of the alleged offence was concerning.
The court heard Harris - a Learner driver - allegedly saw a window to get into the car parked at Bennetts Green about 2.30pm on Sunday and steal it.
It's understood the father-and-daughter victims and Harris were not known to each other.
On-duty defence solicitor Alison Nowland argued the prosecution case came down to some CCTV footage.
She said whether the assailant had heard the father yell out that his daughter was in the car, and was aware there was a person inside, would have to play out in court.
She told the court Harris had safely parked the car and fled so that the danger posed to the baby girl in the circumstances was "minimal".
"While it's every parent's worst nightmare to have a vehicle taken with a child in it ... it was a short distance travelled," she said.
She said Harris could offer strict bail conditions, including what was effectively a house arrest, but Mr Olischlager said they did not mitigate the concerns.
She detailed his traumatic background.
The man faces charges of unlawfully taking and driving a motor vehicle with person in or on it; taking and driving a vehicle without consent; and Learner not accompanied.
He did not have to enter pleas, and the case was adjourned for the state prosecuting authority, the DPP, to consider taking it over.
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Journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
Journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
