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 looked to his young victim like a legitimate 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.
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.
Wittman had been an army reservist, but was discharged after two days shy of two years in 1997 for failing to provide efficient service.
His PTSD 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 had an appointment the day after the incident to pick up his cat, which had been missing for several days, but became increasingly anxious during the evening.
"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 showed up at around 10.30pm and forced Ms Scarlett inside at gunpoint.
When she was unable to get his cat for him, he tied her hands behind her back and told her to wait 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.
Ms Scarlett told the court she feared she would never recover.
"You really are the wost kind of evil human that makes the newspaper headlines today," she told him in a pre-sentence hearing.
"You came prepared for war, and a war against a totally defenceless animal welfare carer."
She questioned why he, as a person with PTSD, would inflict that diagnosis on another person.
Wittman, who admitted five charges including aggravated burglary, assault and false imprisonment, must serve at least three years.
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