- Yusuf Amir stole the footy star’s $150,000 Range Rover
- He was sentenced in Melbourne court on Tuesday
- The judge was scathing when the verdict was handed down
A ‘madman’ who stole Richmond superstar Dusty Martin’s $150,000 Range Rover was rammed off the road by police five hours after the theft.
Details of how Yusuf Amir stole the attacker’s luxury car before he was rammed by a police car five hours later were revealed in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court as he was sentenced.
The 30-year-old was driving with a friend in St Kilda in January this year when he jumped out of the car after seeing a luxury Range Rover speeding away outside a Coles Express petrol station.
He stole Martin’s car, which was loaned to a friend at the time, and took off.
Police were able to spot Amir five hours later and he was arrested after he rammed a police car in an attempt to get away.
Amir returned to court on Tuesday, where magistrate Suzanne Cameron branded him ‘mad’.
Martin (pictured) had lent his $150,000 Range Rover to a friend when it was stolen and destroyed during a wild police chase
Thief Yusuf Amir (pictured) was grilled by magistrate Suzanne Cameron, who told him he has no right to jump into other people’s expensive cars and drive ‘off into the sunset’
He applied to be released from prison on an ‘intensive’ drug and alcohol treatment order.
This was dismissed by Ms Cameron, who said he had a ‘worrying’ pattern of doing the same thing over and over again.
“There’s a pattern of jumping on people’s expensive rides … and then riding off into the sunset,” she said.
“I have three stolen cars here, a Range Rover, a Volvo and a Mazda… It’s a clear pattern that poses a risk to the community.”
Just weeks before he stole Martin’s car, the court was told that Amir had stolen a $50,000 Mazda CX9, and a month earlier had stolen a car worth $40,000.
Amir, who pleaded guilty to 30 charges including theft of a motor vehicle and damaging an emergency vehicle by reckless driving, had argued he was now ‘more mature’.
Martin’s vehicle (pictured) was recovered in Melbourne’s east after sustaining damage when Amir rammed a police car while trying to escape
But Ms Cameron noted that he had been given the same order he was now seeking in 2016 for ‘strikingly similar offences’, and that he had absconded and was still offending after just nine weeks on the programme.
“It’s just called, isn’t it,” she said.
“You’re not entitled to smooth rides… you’re still a young man, you have a whole life to live, you have to decide what you want that to look like.”
Amir, who wore a dark suit as he sat in the dock flanked by two court officials, agreed, saying, “Yes, you’re right.”
“I’ve never had a job in my life, that’s why I want out,” he said.
“I’ve been trying my best… there hasn’t been a lot of support and stuff.”
Amir wanted to be released from prison so he could receive treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Instead, the judge locked him up for fifteen months
His lawyer told the court that despite his client having “failed badly” in the past, he wanted change.
“He’s really trying to break the pattern and break the cycle that puts him back in custody.”
The court was told Amir had spent ‘much’ of his adult life in and out of prison and had a long criminal history.
Ms Cameron found, apart from Amir’s comments, that he showed ‘no signs of being deterred’ from his criminal activities, and was suspected of drug trafficking while in custody.
He was sentenced to fifteen months in prison and his driver’s license was revoked for a year.