A Victorian woman has been jailed for her role in a home invasion during which five foreign fruit pickers were tied up, threatened with guns and zapped with a cattle prod.
Narelle Carter, 41, will spend at least the next two years behind bars after admitting aggravated burglary over her part in planning the April 2017 invasion at Robinvale, near Mildura on the NSW border.
County Court Judge Mark Taft said while Carter didn't enter the house she had a high level of culpability because of the level of planning involved and the fact she was an "active participant in a most serious offence".
She was at a meeting where the logistics were planned, and knew of preparations including plans to get guns, cable ties, a cattle prod and more.
Carter was the first driver as she and three of her five male co-offenders headed from their hometown Wodonga to Robinvale.
They targeted foreign workers who would be vulnerable and less likely to call police.
The group smoked ice on the overnight drive, along NSW back roads, and despite hitting a kangaroo arrived early on April 17.
While Carter remained hidden in the vines, Judge Taft said her co-offenders armed themselves with guns and the cattle prod, modified as a homemade Taser.
Under the cover of darkness and with their arsenal of weapons they sneaked into the house surprising seven sleeping grape pickers.
Two escaped, but the others were bound with cable ties and rope, gagged with electrical tape and "menaced", the judge said.
They were threatened, and shocked on the legs, neck and back with the cattle prod.
The house was ransacked and cash, jewellery, a passport and electrical goods were stolen.
A car was also taken by some of the offenders and later dumped in NSW.
Judge Taft said the stolen items were divided between the group, though Carter claimed not to have taken anything.
She defended her actions as stupidity when interviewed by police.
"Just cos (sic) I was with the boy, just like, stupid girlfriend," she said, referring to her partner who was a co-offender.
Carter has a history of burglary and has already been sentenced to prison for such crimes.
"The trajectory of your criminal offending is intensifying," the judge said.
Carter has a long history of drug and alcohol issues, including a 16-year addiction to opiates and as an ice user for the past six years.
She has already served two months of her four-year jail sentence.
Australian Associated Press
