A vigilante couple broke into a woman’s home and smashed it up with a cricket bat to stop her allegedly giving drugs to their teenage daughter, a court has heard.
Dwayne and Joanne Cachia, who are well respected in their local community, appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where they pleaded guilty to entering a property without lawful excuse and criminal damage over the incident, which took place on February 15.
The court heard the husband and wife turned up at the house in Bacchus March, near Melbourne, at 12.36am, and Ms Cachia, who was armed with a cricket bat, screamed “warning, stop bringing teenage girls to this house”, The Melbourne City News reported.
Mr Cachia then forced his way inside, the couple yelled at the woman, and Ms Cachia smashed a hole in the woman’s bedroom wall with the bat. Two Triple-Zero calls were made, and in one Mr Cachia could be heard saying “I kicked the f*cking door in”.
When police arrived the couple surrendered, and Ms Cachia told them “we were telling her to stay the f*ck away from my kid”, and Mr Cachia said “I kicked the door in alright. I f*cked up, yeah”.
The court heard that the Cachias believed the woman had been giving illegal drugs to their daughter, causing a decline in the teenager’s mental health.
Magistrate Vicky Prapas told the couple that even though they felt helpless in regard to protecting to their child, vigilante justice was not the answer.
“This offending has brought shame and embarrassment to you and I hope it’s given you an opportunity to also reflect on the consequences of your offending and what it really means to the community in general,” she told them.
Ms Prapas sentenced them both to a 12-month adjourned undertaking (good behaviour bond), and ordered them to pay $2,000 each to the court fund, but did not record convictions as they were well regarded in the community, had no relevant criminal history, and cooperated with police.
Mr Cachia had been made president of Darley Junior Football Netball Club just months before the incident, but the court heard he had resigned and withdrawn from junior footy while the case was underway.
Two weeks after the arrest the club announced on Facebook that he would be taking a leave of absence while “he and wife Jo deal with some personal issues”.
Header image: Dwayne Cachia while winning Best Clubman at the footy club’s 2025 awards (Darley Junior Football Netball Club).
