Angelo Gargasoulas, brother of Bourke St accused, jailed for assault
The younger brother of the accused Bourke Street Mall killer driver has been jailed after injuring his mother in an ice-addled rage for making a sandwich too slowly, and stealing a taxi driver’s lunch.
Angelo Gargasoulas, 26, has admitted recklessly injuring his mum’s face by throwing a thermos at her as she was making him a toasted sandwich in July last year.
He was coming down off a drug high and agitated by how long it was taking to cook, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court was told on Thursday.
Gargasoulas pleaded guilty on Thursday to 13 offences between May 2015 and July 2016 including intentionally injuring his partner, theft and driving unlicensed.
Defence lawyer Alex Turner told the court Gargasoulas was now clean but previously had an ice addiction that worsened when he started a relationship with a fellow user.
“It became part and parcel of that relationship,” Mr Turner said.
A few weeks after the toastie incident, Gargasoulas hit his boyfriend with the butt end of a box cutter after an argument outside his Windsor home.
Earlier, in October 2015 Gargasoulas stole a taxi driver’s backpack containing the driver’s lunch and $3000 in cash, the court heard.
Gargasoulas had been in the taxi with a female friend when he rummaged through the backpack that was in the cab.
The court was told Gargasoulas had been caught repeatedly driving while unlicensed since 2015.
He tested positive for alcohol in May 2015 and positive for illicit drugs seven months later.
Mr Turner told the court Gargasoulas would find jail “excessively difficult”, given his surname and his sexuality.
His brother, Dimitrious Gargasoulas, faces five counts of murder and a sixth charge is expected to be laid over the Bourke St tragedy on January 20.
He is accused of deliberately driving into crowds that day, also injuring dozens more people.
Mr Turner said Angelo Gargasoulas was still receiving treatment for stab wounds allegedly made by his brother on January 20, hours before the alleged Bourke St rampage.
In sentencing on Thursday, Magistrate Franz Holzer took into account the guilty pleas as an “accepted responsibility for these matters”.
But he said it was serious offending and sentenced Gargasoulas to two months’ jail with an 18-month community corrections order after his release.
He will also be without a licence for four years and three months.
-AAP