An “unhinged” wannabe soldier stormed an animal shelter wearing military gear and threatened to shoot a terrified worker who was begging for her life in a shocking bid to get his cat back.
Tony Wittman pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, aggravated burglary, criminal damage, perjury, common law assault and carry an imitation weapon in the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday.
The 45-year-old former Defence member called the Lost Dogs’ Home at Cranbourne West on January 11, 2021, after his pet was taken to the shelter.
He was told he couldn’t collect the animal until the next day and arranged to pick up the feline but hours later returned to the shelter for a military-style raid about 10.30pm.
Wittman packed a military-style vest, helmet, a black mask with a white skull emblazoned on it, imitation firearms, cable ties, a tomahawk, hunting knife, wire cutters and a pet carrier and headed back to the pound, the court was told.
After-hours ranger Bailey Scarlett arrived to start her shift and the one-time reservist confronted her with his imitation assault rifle pointed at her and ordered her to drive slowly towards the building.
“If you do as I say and listen to me, I won’t shoot you,” he said.
Wittman forced the terrified woman to hand over her keys and phone at gunpoint before he marched her to a room and demanded to know where the cats were kept.
Fearing Wittman was going to hurt the animals, Ms Scarlett lied, but after she was threatened, she pointed out the sheds. He then tied the woman’s hands behind her back despite her pleas and told her to count to 100 before she called for help, the court was told.
“The offender was so aggressive and cold towards me I honestly thought he was going to shoot me and the animals,” she later told police.
Wittman fled and did not collect his cat from the shelter and ixjmtzywnstead drove home after dumping his equipment.
In an emotional statement, Ms Scarlett described how she struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after she was subjected to the “military-style ambush”.
The failed cat napper was a “ticking time bomb” to act how he did over something so trivial, she said.
“You were prepared for war, you were dressed for war and you’re armed with the weapons of war. You knew exactly what you were doing that night,” she told the court.
Ms Scarlett once loved her job but now associated it with that night of terror and was unable to return.
She told the court that she was afraid of seeing Wittman again, struggled to sleep and suffered from anxiety and panic attacks.
“You were so unhinged, so unforgiving and cold,” Ms Scarlett said.
She lashed Wittman’s claims that he was ex-military who was in combat and his decision to post details of himself on an extras website where he wanted to be a “war-torn extra or a gunman in a movie”.
The young mum told Wittman that she wanted him to feel the same pain and suffering he inflicted on her.
His defence lawyer told the court that Wittman spent a few years as an army reservist but was discharged for “failure to render efficient service” because of physical difficulties.
He also suffered PTSD from childhood abuse he suffered at the hands of a teacher and his father but not as a result of the 16 years he claimed to have served in the Defence Force as he initially told police, his lawyer Scott Thomas said.
“I had a brain meltdown and I went and got some stuff from home … and I ‘tac’d up’ and I breached the perimeter of the Lost Dogs’ Home and I went searching for my cat,” he told police after his arrest.
He also claimed to police he was deployed to East Timor twice, went to Banda Aceh after the Boxing Day tsunami and to Afghanistan.
Wittman was remorseful, had mental health issues and lied about the true reason for the PTSD because he was embarrassed, Mr Thomas said.
Wittman will be sentenced later this week.
