THEY are the Valentine Nine; a group of wannabe home invaders who packed into two cars, armed themselves with a 12-gauge shotgun, a knife and three baseballs bats and tried, unsuccessfully, to get into a house on Berringar Road. But the target of the home invasion, who the nine hoped to exact some form of revenge on, slept through the whole thing and the victim who met the group at the front door didn't even know if they had the right house.
"What are you talking about with your family?" the woman who answered the door in the early hours of May 11, 2019, to find a gunman and a group of other balaclava-clad, heavily armed young men on her front steps. "I don't know who your family is because I don't know who the f--- you are. I don't know if you're at the right house cause I don't know who the f--- you are."
And it all started over a disagreement between former mates and misinformation about a loaded gun.
Five members of the group - Thor Olsen, Oscar Billy Conway, Cy Osaki, Madden Wickens-Paynter and Milly Elsa Morgan - have admitted to being present during the failed home invasion and pleaded guilty to using an offensive weapon in company with intent to commit an indictable offence. They will be sentenced next month.
Two others - Chanel Anne Huisman, accused of being one of the drivers, and Kalib Toko - have pleaded not guilty and will likely face a trial in 2021.
The remaining two accused members of the group - Ryan Lee Harris and Zac Rolls-Fitzgerald - are still before Newcastle Local Court and have not entered pleas.
The man at the house in Valentine had a falling out with a friend, who is a relative of one of the group, and a rumour emerged that a loaded firearm was involved.
One of the nine recruited the others to join him in the home invasion and told the group that a person at the house had done a similar thing to one of his family, according to an agreed statement of facts.
The group got into two cars and drove around to the house before seven men got out, armed themselves, donned balaclavas, went up the front door and knocked.
"F---ing let us in, let us in, let us in, f---ing let us in," the man with the gun shouted.
The occupants wouldn't open the door and repeatedly questioned if they had the right house before the group left.
Police spotted the two cars packed with people a few blocks away, pulled them over and found the weapons.
