A botched attempted carjacking targeting a father waiting to pick up his daughter from school in one of Melbourne’s most affluent suburbs has been laid out in detail at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, with investigators revealing how the two accused offenders spent hours hiding in suburban shrubbery before their eventual arrest. The court proceedings on Wednesday centered on 40-year-old Boris Ristic’s bail application, one of the two men charged over the February 24 incident. According to Detective Acting Sergeant Terry Harvey, the victim had parked his luxury Mercedes-Benz on Wellington Street in Kew just after 4:30 p.m. when a white Mitsubishi Triton pulled up alongside his vehicle. Two men exited the truck, which then drove off from the scene, and brandished a knife to threaten the victim into surrendering his car keys, Harvey told the court. Prosecutors allege Ristic was the man who tried to drive off with the stolen Mercedes, but he was unable to shift the vehicle into gear. For roughly one minute, witnesses and the victim reported hearing the car engine rev repeatedly before the two frustrated suspects gave up and ran away down Wellington Street. Initial searches by police failed to locate the pair, but a breakthrough came just before 9 p.m. when a local resident on nearby Scott Street contacted emergency services. After checking her home security system, the resident spotted two unidentified figures entering the front yard of the property across from her home and hiding in dense front-yard bushes. The two men did not leave their hiding spot until approximately 8:50 p.m., the court was told. Police immediately cordoned off the neighborhood and quickly arrested 33-year-old Maker Jal in the backyard of a Scott Street property. Investigators say they found the victim’s Mercedes-Benz key in Jal’s possession, alongside a small quantity of methamphetamine. Ristic was captured only after a short manhunt, during which he allegedly jumped over multiple residential fences and hid on rooftop areas before being detained by the Critical Incident Response Team. Near Ristic’s arrest location, officers discovered a black Tommy Hilfiger holding $1665 in cash, three Valium tablets, a small bottle of Fireball cinnamon whiskey, and a replica firearm, Harvey confirmed. Lucien Richter, Ristic’s defense lawyer, has challenged the prosecution’s case, pointing out key inconsistencies in witness testimony. The victim described both suspects as Black men, while Ristic is Caucasian, Richter noted. He also argued that no evidence directly linking his client to the attempted carjacking was found on him at the time of arrest, adding that the CCTV footage of the incident is heavily obscured, making positive identification unreliable. Ristic, a professional painter with no prior criminal record, has the full support of his family, with his mother offering to put up a $20,000 surety to secure his bail. Richter told the court his client already has confirmed work waiting for him and is rooted in a stable, responsible family environment that would ensure he complies with any bail conditions. Magistrate Phillip Goldberg adjourned the bail application part-heard, with the next court hearing scheduled for April 15. Jal faces three charges: carjacking, theft, and possession of a controlled drug, and he is scheduled to make his next court appearance on Thursday.