'Frightening': resident watched midnight intruder on CCTV

A judge has described a 28-year-old man's middle-of-the-night attempt to breach a Dubbo home as "frightening" after court documents revealed the resident watched him repeatedly approach her doors on CCTV. Jaimen Taylor, of Dubbo, pleaded guilty to entering a building or land with intent to commit an indictable offence in Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. According to court documents at 12.33am the victim was inside her home watching television with the inside lights on when she received a CCTV alert on her phone. She saw Taylor standing directly in front of the CCTV camera at her front door. She also heard something fall to the ground from the place where Taylor was standing. Footage showed black shorts and Taylor's left leg before he moved out of the camera's view. At 12.39am the victim received another alert from her cameras and saw Taylor in full view at her front door. Upon her sensor light switching on, Taylor quickly moved out of view again. At 12.45am the victim received an alert from her backyard camera that was placed on the window sill. Taylor was seen again in the same black adidas shorts, before he placed a piece of bark over the front of the camera, blocking the CCTV footage. At 12.54am, the victim again received a CCTV camera alert on her phone and saw Taylor approach the front door. This time Taylor remained at the front door and the victim could hear the door rattling. The victim called her husband who was away at the time. Taylor then moved from the view of the CCTV camera and went back to the victim's backyard. At 1.09am, the victim received another CCTV alert from her front camera showing Taylor was again standing by her front door. The victim then contacted police as she believed Taylor would not leave and that he was trying to break into her unit. At 1.30am police came to the home and went to the back of the unit. When they were approaching, they saw Taylor run out from a nearby unit towards the back fence. Police asked Taylor to stop, but he ignored them and attempted to jump the back fence before he tripped. Taylor was placed under arrest and cautioned. Police saw Taylor was wearing a black Nike hooded jumper that was tied up to cover his face, black adidas shorts and black Nike TN sneakers that were seen in the CCTV and in the police body-worn video. Police spoke with the victim and obtained a report. They saw the fly screen of the victim's front door had been ripped open. They confirmed with the victim that it had not been ripped previously. Police also saw the piece of bark that had been placed to obscure the rear CCTV camera. Taylor was taken to Dubbo Police Station. Aboriginal Legal Service solicitor Abram Meredith told the court his client had been on curfew for the past nine months, was living with his grandmother and had turned his life around. "He understands how serious it is, how frightening it would've been for the victim," he said. "Drugs and mental health played a huge part but he is now receiving treatment and has stable relationship." Judge Michael Allen told Taylor that what he did would've caused the victim to be very frightened. "You were coming to the front and exit of her home on CCTV, that's frightening. But I can see you've had a significant change in your circumstances which is to be applauded," he said. Taylor was convicted and sentenced to a community corrections order for 12 months.