A 24-year-old fisherman was in and out of jail within a couple of hours after being handed a four-month sentence for reckless driving and evading police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Magistrate Ken Stanton told Andrew Scott Murray, of Ravenswood, that his unlicensed driving was a serious example of the offence of evading police under aggravated circumstances.
An inebriated Murray sped away from a random breath test and collided with a car after running two red lights about 12.05pm on November 22 last year, the court heard.
"You are fortunate that the consequences were not much more serious," Mr Stanton said.
"You should not have been driving at all and you had alcohol in your body."
He suspended two months of the sentence for 18 months on the condition that Murray commits no imprisonable offence. He was being taken into custody by security officers when defence counsel Mark Doyle leapt to his feet.
IN OTHER NEWS:
He said he intended to make a bail application pending an appeal to the Supreme Court about the length of sentence. Mr Stanton said he could not grant bail before the appeal was lodged.
Murray was taken into custody while Mr Doyle lodged the notice of intention to appeal. An hour later Murray walked out of court after being granted bail.
The offence occurred when Murray left an RBT site and sped along Wellington Street towards the Paterson Street intersection and went through a red light.
He continued driving and swerved around a vehicle stopped at a red light and crashed into a Mitsubishi Lancer travelling through the green light along Brisbane Street.
The Mitsubishi was spun 180 degrees while Murray's Nissan Patrol rolled, finishing up 30 metres down the road. Mr Murray's breath analysis was 0.87 and he told police that he had drunk eight to 10 Great Northern beers between 8pm and 11pm. Speed analysis showed the vehicle doing 73km/h before the crash.
Murray was also fined $1720 and a special penalty of $600 and handed 70 hours of community service for a separate count of evading police on September 12 last year at 2.30am. He was unlicensed at the time.
On that occasion, the unlicensed Murray fled police turning his lights off and driving on the incorrect side of the road in Henry Street. He drove at 80km/h in a 60km/h zone. Mr Murray also pleaded guilty to seven counts of computer-related fraud in 2018.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner