Country musician Chad Woods accused of ECU South West front-end loader attack

A Busselton singer-songwriter accused of stealing a front-end loader and breaking into a South West university plans to fight the charges. Chad Bernard Woods, 43, appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Monday where he pleaded not guilty to five charges relating to the March incident. The accusations included two counts of criminal damage, stealing a motor vehicle, aggravated burglary and burglary. During the week of the offending, police told the South Western Times a group of offenders drove the heavy-duty machinery on to Edith Cowan University’s South West Campus in Bunbury during the early hours of March 21. Ploughing through corridors and garden beds, the offenders allegedly crashed through a glass sliding door at the university’s library, where it appears they were forced to abandon the vehicle. The entire incident was captured on CCTV. It is understood the incident was the final offending in a six-day crime spree by the group, which included forcing entry into a series of commercial businesses, an Australind service station, a Glen Iris tyre shop and a licensed tavern in Eaton. The country musician is a regular performer around the region, often playing at pubs and taverns around Capel, Dardanup and Wokalup. Well established in the South West, he played at the Boyup Brook Country Music Festival in 2019, taking home the festivals Male Vocalist of the Year award in 2001 and 2005. Mr Woods is expected to reappear in September for a trial allocation date.