"It wasn't something you see every day," said William Errington, with commendable understatement.
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He was talking of the moment he saw a tank rumble past on a
western Sydney street, on an armoured demolition run in which mobile
phone towers were flattened and an electricity substation destroyed.
Mr Errington and his friends, alerted by sirens, decided to follow the vehicle, a vintage armoured personnel carrier.
"The tank was being driven all over the place, on footpaths, the wrong side of the road," he said. "It was a bit scary."
The
drama began early on Saturday after Mt Druitt police found the vehicle
destroying an electricity substation in Minchinbury.
Over 90
minutes, with police in cautious pursuit, it felled four Telstra mobile
phone towers and damaged three Optus towers in surrounding suburbs –
and it was heading for another phone tower when it stalled.
John
Patterson, 45, of Dharruk, Sydney, was charged with predatory driving
and six counts of malicious damage. He was remanded in custody to await
a further hearing today.
The armoured personnel carrier was
from A-One Lift Truck Services in Minchinbury, where it was popular
with students hiring it for school formals.
A-One owner Greg Morris said he hired Patterson on a six-month contract to help restore the machine, which dates from 1967.
Mr Morris said: "We worked on this together and he loved the work he was doing.
"He put hundreds of hours of work into it and helped build it. He loved it just as much as I did."
Mr
Morris said he believed Patterson worked on tanks in the army.
Neighbours said he was a former technician for Telecom – now Telstra –
who received a compensation payout about 15 years ago after a head
injury.
Mobile phone services were disrupted by the rampage. A
Telstra spokesman said temporary structures had been put up to replace
four destroyed towers. Optus said three towers were being repaired.
Patterson
did not apply for bail when he appeared in Parramatta Bail Court.
Defence lawyer Ivan Bertoia told the court Patterson claimed "that
certainly he had authority to behave in such a manner".
In
refusing bail, the magistrate recommended that Patterson, who had
facial cuts and a swollen left eye, get medical and psychiatric care.