Magistrate revokes bail, telling accused his actions would have 'petrified' his victims

William Armstrong-Smith sustained a deep laceration to his ankle and left a trail of blood through the Green Street home in the break-in about 3.45am on July 10.

Once inside, he went to a bedroom where the two occupants of the home were sleeping, and turned on the light.

Awoken, one of the residents challenged Armstrong-Smith, who fell to the ground in pain due to the injury to his ankle. When police arrived at 3.50am, they found him slumped in the doorway to the bedroom.

Armstrong-Smith, 28, was taken to hospital under police guard, and required surgery.

In Wangaratta court this week, his solicitor Nancy Battiato said a car with male occupants had been pursuing Armstrong-Smith at the time, and one of them was armed with a baseball bat.

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He had been "trying to find refuge as a result of these people pursuing him".

Armstrong-Smith was appearing on charges of careless driving, intentionally destroy property and without authority or excuse enter a private place.

The careless driving charge related to an incident on February 5 last year when police attended a bogged, silver BMW sedan on the Snow Road at Whorouly.

There were no occupants, but Armstrong-Smith was later found and admitted to being the driver. He told police had had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Ms Battiato told the court Armstrong-Smith's use of the drug ice had been a big factor in his offending, and appealed for a deferral of the case for Armstrong-Smith to re-engage and be compliant with a corrections order that expires in June.

His 21-page criminal history was tendered to magistrate Ian Watkins, who said Armstrong-Smith did not have "a happy history" in terms of complying with corrections orders.

"Entering that property in Green Street is in my view extremely serious," Mr Watkins said.

"I regard that as really top-level offending.

"People in this town should be able to go to bed at night not expecting to have strangers come into their house ... you may well have been fleeing from somebody, I don't know whether that was the truth or not.

"But the reality is those people would have been petrified having the light turned on in their room and a stranger in the house. That in itself calls for a term of imprisonment."

Mr Watkins revoked bail and remanded Armstrong-Smith to reappear on March 27. He ordered a forensic report to assist in sentencing, and to determine programs to assist rehabilitation.

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