THE trial of a Mount Gambier man accused of committing a brazen home invasion in the heart of the city in broad daylight earlier this year has started.
Anthony Steven Greco appeared in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court for trial yesterday after pleading not guilty to charges of serious criminal trespass, theft and assault.
Greco is accused of breaking into a house with other offenders and stealing items on May 10 – an incident which was eventually thwarted by the home-owner.
Yesterday the victim started giving evidence about the incident.
He said when he attended at his home, a car reversed out of his driveway and drove away.
The victim suspected something was going on inside the house and when he looked through the windows and noticed the interior of his house was in disarray.
Holding an umbrella, the victim knocked on the main door of his own home and another offender answered.
When the intruder realised he had opened the door to the homeowner, he ran to the other end of the house.
The victim executed a citizen’s arrest, before dragging the offender outside the property.
“I asked him who he was, I was quite agitated,” the victim said during his evidence.
“I told him he was under a citizen’s arrest.”
The court heard the offender became emotional and said he had been “hanging out with the wrong crowd” when under the victim’s restraint.
A short time later, the co-accused – who the prosecution will allege was Greco – walked up the driveway and the other offender yelled out to him for help.
When Greco assisted and became involved in an altercation with the victim, the other offender fled the scene.
“He leant forward and grabbed me by the hand,” the victim said.
“The hoodie of the other man slipped off and he ran away.”
The victim said the defendant then stood up and police arrived a short time later and arrested him.
The prosecutor asked the victim what he did after the police arrived.
“I just stood there, dumbfounded at what had just occurred,” he said.
The trial continues.
