Two men allegedly responsible for a 10-day crime spree that ended in a dramatic arrest at Figtree on Monday taunted police on Facebook while they were on the run.
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Griffith mates Zach Corkery and Allan Burns were refused bail in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, two days after they allegedly posted a photo of themselves giving the middle finger on Facebook with the words “f—k you task force carolan”, an apparent reference to the police strike force set up by Griffith detectives to track the two men.
The post had drawn multiple comments by Tuesday evening purporting to be from friends and family of the pair, including a woman named Lorraine Nisbet, who identified herself as Burns’ mother.
“His (sic) my son I love him with all my heart always and 4 (sic) ever,” she wrote.
Burns and Corkery have each been charged with more than 20 offences stemming from their alleged cross-country spree.
Police will allege the pair started late on the evening of November 4 when they stole a car from a house in Leeton, then caused $20,000 worth of damage to a cash dispensary machine at a nearby car wash.
It is alleged they robbed a woman of about $2,000 around 1pm on November 5.
Three days later the pair allegedly robbed a man of his motorbike at Griffith.
On November 11, the duo allegedly carried out break and enters at Griffith, Barmedman and Beckom between 4pm and 8.15pm.
It is alleged they stole a Ford Falcon from Leeton the following day before driving to Yanco, where they allegedly broke into a house and assaulted the home owner while armed with a shotgun.
Police picked up the pair travelling in a stolen white Nissan Patrol at Mittagong around 10.20pm the same day (November 12) and gave chase.
It is alleged the pair used the Patrol to ram a police car before fleeing from officers. It is also alleged they were armed with the shotgun at the time.
Court documents reveal three gates were damaged at a property at Colo Vale at 8 o’clock the following morning and a Mitsubishi Outlander stolen from the location.
That vehicle was tracked to Picton, where it will be alleged police confronted Corkery and Burns with weapons drawn.
However, it is alleged the duo car-jacked a Subaru Imrpeza from an elderly couple and drove to Wollongong where they allegedly stole a Holden ute from Urunga Parade in West Wollongong.
Vision from PolAir showed the ute heading towards Figtree, where it dodged an approaching police vehicle, before mounting a traffic island and narrowly avoiding a head-on crash as it travelled the wrong way up the Masters Road off-ramp.
The ute then struck a guardrail and continued a short distance, before Corkery and Burns jumped out and fled into nearby Byarong Creek.
The pair ran along the waterway and under The Avenue bridge, before surrendering as police closed in near Figgy Bowlo.
The pair chose not to appear in person or via video link during a brief mention of their case in court on Tuesday morning.
Magistrate Philip Stewart formally remanded the pair in custody and adjourned both matters for further mention in Griffith Local Court in January.
In documents presented in court, police described the case against the pair as strong, saying they expected to provide forensic and electronic evidence as part of their case.