A man who repeatedly drove while disqualified and without a licence despite a suspended sentence hanging over his head gave "stupidity" as his reason for driving, the Launceston Magistrates Court heard.
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Timothy Marshall, 50, of Hadsepn, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of unlicenced driving, speeding, 13 counts of driving an unregistered motor vehicle and a count of failing to comply with a direction of the director of Public Health and numerous other driving charges between November 2019 and June 2020.
He drove unregistered and uninsured vehicles several times with false number plates calculated to deceive police.
The court heard that Marshall was living at Shorewell Park when he received a 21-day suspended sentence in the Burnie Magistrates Court in 2019.
Police prosecutor Brad Collins made an application that the suspended sentence be activated.
Mr Collins said that Marshall explained his actions as "stupidity" when caught by police.
Defence counsel Ben Ashman said Marshall had not offended since June 2020.
He said Marshall had problems after the death of his brother [Shane Keith Marshall] on the north west coast.
"The purpose of his driving was to remove items from his brother's house," he said.
Magistrate Ken Stanton said there were strong arguments for and against sending Marshall to jail.
He said Marshall had a long history of disregard for the law.
"All of the offending occurred after your brother's death which you struggled to deal with," he said.
"You were living with him and you were associating with people who provided you with illicit drugs which you turned to."
He said that sending Marshall to prison had the potential of derailing his recent offence-free life and would again expose him to the corrupting influences of the prison system.
However, Mr Stanton found it would be unjust to activate the suspended sentence and further suspended the sentence for 12 months.
"For someone with your record that is a merciful approach," he said.
"You ought not expect that mercy would be extended again if you offended from today."
Marshall was disquailfied from driving for 12 months.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
