Jail for former soldier who held Melbourne Lost Dogs Home employee hostage at gunpoint

A former soldier who tied a woman up at gunpoint while trying to get his cat back from Melbourne’s Lost Dogs Home has been jailed for six years.

Armed with an assault weapon and dressed in full military-style clothing, Tony Wittman’s young victim initially believed he was a policeman.

But when he pointed the gun through her car window as she arrived for a late-night shift at work, Bailey Scarlett was filled with terror.

‘If you do as I say and listen to me, I won’t shoot you,’ Wittman told her.

The 45-year-old initially told police his actions were the result of a ‘brain meltdown’ stemming from PTSD, itself the result of 16 years in the Australian Army.

Tony Wittman (pictured) has been jailed after he pleaded guilty to five charges including aggravated burglary, assault and false imprisonment

He said he had been to East Timor and Afghanistan twice each, and to Aceh after the Boxing Day tsunami.

But County Court Judge Duncan Allen said while he did have complex post-traumatic stress disorder, his army explanation was untrue.

He said it was actually the result of ‘gross trauma’ he suffered, including at the hands of his physically and verbally abusive father.

Judge Allen said the relationship, including corporal punishment and degradation, was extremely painful and Wittman had been too embarrassed to tell police the true reasons behind his disorder.

Wittman’s cat had been missing for several days before the January 2021 incident and he believed he had found it at the Lost Dogs Home. He had arranged an appointment to pick it up the day after the incident, but became increasingly anxious overnight.

‘The only thing I really treasure in this world is that cat … and through anxiety I acted irrationally and did not think of the consequences of my actions or the fallout,’ he told police.

‘I was only thinking about saving my cat because my cat has saved me from killing myself so many times.’

Wittman had turned up at Melbourne’s Lost Dogs Home (pictured) late at night in a desperate attempt to get his cat back

Wittman showed up at around 10.30pm and forced Ms Scarlett inside at gunpoint.

He demanded to know where the cats were kept, and when she said she didn’t have a key to that area, he told her to get on her knees and tied her hands behind her back.

Wittman told her to count to 100 before calling for help.

‘I’m going to close this door, if I see you, I’ll shoot you,’ he told her before fleeing the scene, dumping weapons and clothing on his way home.

Judge Allen found Wittman, who has no prior convictions, was genuinely remorseful and had done what he could to repair the situation, to the extent it could be repaired.

Wittman (pictured) blamed the incident on post-traumatic stress disorder caused by service in East Timor and Afghanistan, which he claims he visited twice each

Ms Scarlett told the court she feared she would never recover.

‘You really are the worst kind of evil human that makes the newspaper headlines today,’ she told him in a pre-sentence hearing.

She questioned why he, as a person with PTSD, would inflict that diagnosis on another person.

‘You came prepared for war, and a war against a totally defenceless animal welfare carer,’ she said.

Wittman, who admitted five charges including aggravated burglary, assault and false imprisonment, must serve at least three years.

If you or someone who know needs help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300224636.