A man who bragged about driving a stolen Landcruiser through Northland shopping centre to evade police and caused terrified children to run for their lives has been jailed.
Giriwa May was sentenced to four years and 10 months in jail at the County Court on Thursday, with a non-parole period of two years and 10 months.
CCTV footage captured May smashing through glass doors and driving through a children’s play area inside the shopping centre in Melbourne’s north on June 18, 2025, sending shoppers scrambling.
Judge Stewart Bayles said the 28-year-old had been using up to a gram of methamphetamine daily in the lead-up to police confronting him in a Northland carpark.
An unmarked police car parked behind May’s stolen 4WD, and police asked him to get out of the vehicle. Instead, he attempted to flee by reversing into the police vehicle several times while an officer tried to smash his window with a baton.
“It submitted that … you were panicking at this time,” Bayles said on Thursday. “Your only thought was to evade police, which is why you then drove through the shopping centre doors.”
As May drove through the “moderately busy” shopping centre, one woman frantically pushed a pram out of the way while people screamed and crawled to escape, Bayles said.
“One woman ran so fast that she slipped and fell to the ground. Items from her hand went flying forward,” he said.
The judge described pedestrians in the video as terrified, shocked, and taken completely by surprise as May drove towards them in the stolen vehicle.
“One can only imagine the fear that they must have experienced,” he said, adding the wider community was also shaken by the crime.
“It affects people’s sense of trust and confidence, their sense of safety and security, and their ability to use and enjoy public spaces,” he said.
May exited Northland shopping centre by smashing through another glass door as children ran away. The court heard that May then drove about 15 minutes to Northcote shopping plaza and dumped the vehicle.
He was arrested at his home on Hoddle Street the next day and police seized his phone.
“An examination of it [the phone] revealed a number of video messages made by you that could be described as bragging about the incident,” Bayles said.
However, the judge acknowledged May had since expressed remorse.
May pleaded guilty to intentionally exposing an emergency worker to risk by driving, conduct endangering life, handling stolen goods, and damaging property.
His lawyer, Nicholas Rolfe, argued for the 28-year-old to receive a shorter term of imprisonment with a community corrections order.
Bayles, however, agreed with prosecutors that a longer sentence with a non-parole period was needed.
“The offending in this matter is simply too serious,” he said. “People could have been killed or seriously injured.”
Bayles assessed May’s prospects of rehabilitation as reasonable. “However, they will be intimately linked to your ability to remain drug-free after your release from prison.”
May will be eligible for parole in early 2028.
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