Hadspen man Matthew Leigh Coates avoids 15 months jail

It came after Magistrate Ken Stanton converted a 15-month jail sentence to the alternative option of a drug treatment order.

Matthew Leigh Coates had previously received a drug treatment order and had a two month suspended sentence activated.

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Mr Stanton remarked that Coates had an extensive history of offending which comprises 31 pages of prior convictions.

Coates had the custodial component backdated to January 16, 2020, after pleading guilty a range of matters.

He threw a brick at a woman causing an eight-centimetre laceration in retaliation for her throwing a brick at him.

He also was charged with a family violence offence for pushing a gate shut on the legs of a woman causing her to stumble.

Mr Stanton allowed Coates to undertake the drug treatment order rather than stay in jail where he had been in custody since January 16.

Coates pleaded guilty to a count of evading police while under the influence of drugs and driving unlicensed and uninsured.

He was sentenced to a total of seven months jail and four years disqualification from driving for the evade police under aggravated circumstances offences.

A hearing in April heard that Coates had been riding a motorcycle on East Tamar Highway in October last year when police activated emergency lights.

"The motorcycle cut across two lanes and turned left at Forster Street before turning into Invermay Road and then into Conway Street in Mowbray," police prosecutor Kelly Brown said.

"The defendant did not have a driver's licence and he tested positive in an oral fluid test."

A blood test detected the presence of methylamphetamine, amphetamine and THC (cannabis).

In January, Coates narrowly avoided a police officer after accelerating away from a McDonald's drive through in South Launceston after being stopped for a registration check.

"The seriousness of evading police comes because of the risk to the public when seeking to avoid interception," Mr Stanton said.

Coates received a total of six months jail for other offences including the brick throwing and gate closing incidents.

The court heard that he had topped up his petrol tank before leaving without paying on several occasions.

Mr Stanton said that Coates' biggest challenge was to break ties with the people who had been supplying him with drugs.

"It is one of the most critical things to your success and you will need to be diligent," he said.