A man and a woman have been charged after allegedly ramming a police car as they tried to escape arrest for stealing from a car wash coin machine.

Key points:

  • Two people have been charged over a series of thefts from car and dog wash coin machines
  • They allegedly rammed a police car while trying to avoid arrest 
  • Multiple businesses were targeted at Seaford, Old Noarlunga, Prospect and Victor Harbor

Police allege 46-year-old Simon Lister and 51-year-old Sally Anne-Marie Hill have been forcing open coin-dispensing vending machines at car and dog-wash businesses around Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula since July 14.

The pair — of no fixed address and from Old Noarlunga respectively — were charged with numerous offences including illegal use of a motor vehicle, theft, property damage, acts to endanger life and assault police.

Several businesses were targeted, including at Old Noarlunga, Prospect and Victor Harbor, and the pair appeared in court today.

In one recent incident, police were called to a car wash on The Parade at Seaford, at about 7:00am last Thursday following reports two people were breaking into a coin machine.

Police said, once there, the patrol located a stolen black Mercedes Benz that had been seen fleeing from a service station on Eric Road at Old Noarlunga 20 minutes earlier.

The Elizabeth Magistrates Court heard police found the accused pair at the scene, and that Ms Hill struck at the officers as they tried to remove her from the Mercedes, while Mr Lister accelerated and rammed into the police patrol car before driving off.

Neither officer was injured, and the patrol car sustained minor damage.

The Mercedes was briefly pursued before police lost sight of the car on Eric Road at Old Noarlunga.

The two suspects were arrested at a Lewiston property yesterday, with police seizing the stolen car.

Police prosecutors told the court the pair was caught on CCTV at each location and the clothing they were allegedly seen wearing in the footage had been seized.

Ms Hill made no application for bail but Mr Lister’s bail application was rejected, with the magistrate ruling he may put the police and the public in danger if he was released.

The accused pair was today remanded in custody. The matter will return to court in September.

Posted , updated