AN ENVELOPE stuffed with $150 cash and wads of paper was handed over as payment for a $4000 car before the fraudster sparked a wild police chase and tried to carjack elderly people while armed with a spear gun.
Luke Jurak fronted Newcastle District Court on Friday when he was sentenced to four years behind bars, with two years non-parole, for a string of offences committed during a one-man crime wave last year.
The court heard the now 37-year-old was paranoid of police and had gone off medication for his mental health conditions when the offending unfolded in August last year.
He answered a listing on Facebook Marketplace for a Holden Statesman for sale, and an agreement was reached that Jurak would pay $4000 for it.
Jurak paid $1000, and when he handed over an envelope which he said had the rest in it at an East Maitland address on August 14 last year, it was actually stuffed with $150 cash.
The envelope was padded out with paper slips cut to the size of notes to trick the seller, the court heard.
"It's clear that it was not sophisticated, it was obviously going to be immediately detected as soon as the envelope was opened," Judge Roy Ellis said in his judgment.
Just days later, Jurak was behind the wheel of the white Holden Statesman when he drove to a street at Tenambit.
He stood in the middle of the road about 11.15am on August 22, 2022, and repeatedly demanded the residents of a home come out so he could bash them.
Judge Ellis said although Jurak's threats were made from a distance, he was armed with a spear gun and was "waving it around".
Police swarmed the scene and Jurak jumped in the Holden and took off, sparking a police chase.
Judge Ellis said Jurak drove on footpaths, on the wrong side of the road, backwards, through stop signs, and slammed the brakes on in front of police to throw them off or cause them to run up the back of him.
Jurak jumped out of the car wearing a balaklava and wielding the spear gun when it came to a stop with a flat tyre and smoke coming from the bonnet.
He approached a 76-year-old woman in a car stopped nearby.
"He yanked at her front door handle ... demanded that she got out of the vehicle," Judge Ellis said.
"She, though, was able to keep her head and not panic, and she was able to drive off."
Becoming more desperate, Jurak started banging on an older couple's car, using the spear gun to smash their windscreen and shatter them in glass.
"Again, this would have been a terrifying experience," Judge Ellis said.
Agreed facts show as police closed in, he raced off and hid in the shower of an East Maitland apartment, but officers surrounded the unit block and captured him.
He has remained behind bars ever since, and with time served, he will be eligible for release in August 2024.
Judge Ellis read submissions and a specialist report, and said it was clear Jurak suffered mental health conditions and had lived through traumatic experiences.
He said time on parole would allow him to get the support he needed.
The court heard compensation was sought from the fraud victim and the couple whose windscreen was smashed, but Judge Ellis didn't make orders at the time.
"I have zero ability to pay that money," Jurak said.
Jurak pleaded guilty to fraud, police pursuit, and three counts of using an offensive weapon with the intent to intimidate.
Charges relating to not disclosing the identity of a person to police, and shoplifting from Aldi, were taken into account at sentencing.
