Madison Miller jailed: Ballarat woman attacked good Samaritans
High on the drug ice, 23-year-old Victorian woman Madison Miller knocked on several doors.
Nobody answered the first few times. It was 10pm on a Friday night in Wendouree, on the rural-urban fringe of Ballarat, 125km west of Melbourne.
People were either out or sleeping.
She tried again at the home of an elderly couple who came to the door. Appearing anxious and upset, Miller told them she was the victim of a domestic violence situation and needed some help.
That was a lie.
She told them her name was Sarah.
Another lie.
The good Samaritans let her into their home, offered her some food and made up a bed in their spare room. The woman of the house, aged in her 60s, stayed up late watching television in the loungeroom while her husband took himself to bed.
A court on Thursday heard how Miller took advantage of the couple’s generosity in May last year to terrorise them inside their home.
She started with a sexual proposition that Ballarat County Court judge Frank Gucciardo described as “inappropriate” and “utterly repugnant”.
“The man went to bed while his wife continued watching TV,” he said. “Later that night you went into the main bedroom, made inappropriate advances to the man and offered inappropriate favours in exchange for the keys to the car.”
When Miller’s sexual advances were rejected, she lashed out with a serrated bread knife she had taken from the kitchen.
She thrust the knife towards her victim while he lay in bed, but he shielded himself from the blows with the doona.
As Miller ran from the room, he followed her, concerned his wife — who has hearing difficulties and was not aware of the commotion — would be attacked next.
In the kitchen of the Wendouree home, Miller tried four times to stab the man.
He used a picture frame to defend himself before eventually tackling his attacker and holding her on the ground until police arrived.
The male in his 60s suffered a bruise where Miller bit him and a cut on the head where Miller grazed him with a saucepan she swung in the air.
Judge Gucciardo said Miller’s victims were still suffering from the May attack. He said they struggled to deal with the simplest tasks and had flashbacks to what took place.
“These two citizens were in the sanctity of their own home,” he told Miller during Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
“They reacted admirably and showed you generous concern. You responded by attacking them in their own home. That such good Samaritans should be terrorised in their own home by a stranger is utterly repugnant.”
Miller was jailed for three years with a minimum non-parole period of 22 months. She has already served 277 days behind bars.
The court heard her life had been difficult. Judge Gucciardo said she was “neglected” by her mother — a drug user — and was placed into foster care at just three years old.
“You stayed in youth hostels and on the streets,” Judge Gucciardo said. “Your mother was violent, as were her partners.
“Your substance abuse history commenced aged 13 with cannabis and alcohol. Your mother gave you ecstasy tablets. You’ve had seizures when using ice and speed.”
Miller would have received a longer sentence had she not pleaded guilty to charges of attempted armed robbery and recklessly causing injury.
rohan.smith1@news.com.au | @ro_smith
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