STATE OF TASMANIA v ALAN KENNETH KING GEASON J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 3 JULY 2019
Mr King, you pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving, and you have also pleaded guilty to summary offences including a charge of evading police. I will deal with those matters under s 385A of the Criminal Code. All of those matters arise from the same circumstances as the indictable matter.
These offences were committed on 8 December 2018. At the time of the offending you were suspended from driving. There was an active warrant for your arrest, which had been issued following your failure to appear in the Magistrates Court on a number of charges, including a charge of driving whilst disqualified.
On 8 December 2018 you were driving a white Mitsubishi Lancer in a northerly direction n Argyle Street in Hobart. You had a passenger with you. Police saw you and activated their lights and sirens. You drove dangerously thereafter, swerving around vehicles, crossing lanes, and running through a red light before police lost sight of you. On numerous occasions, over approximately one hour, police activated their lights and sirens in order to have you pull over but you refused to do so. Police were forced to disengage at times because they lost sight of you, and at times because they believed that you were driving dangerously because of their presence. You forced other vehicles to take evasive action and you drove in excess of speed limits, including at a speed which was 63 kilometres per hour in excess of the speed limit on the Bowen Bridge. The majority of your driving occurred in built-up residential areas, but also near a school and on major highways. Road spikes were deployed by police on the East Derwent Highway. You attempted to avoid them, however you were forced to pull over due to deflated tyres. Upon pulling over, the female passenger who was with you earlier, and was still in your vehicle. Your vehicle was confiscated and towed to a police garage. You were transported to the Hobart Police Station. You provided a sample of saliva for analysis and no proscribed illicit drugs were detected in that sample.
Whilst at the Hobart Police Station you participated in a video record of interview, and you made a number of admissions, including that the vehicle was yours but was not registered; that you knew there was a warrant out for your arrest; that you saw police and were aware that they were trying to intercept you on at least four occasions; that your passenger had told you to stop for police but you did not; that you were aware that you were travelling in excess of the speed limit; that if other vehicles had not taken evasive action to avoid you there would have been a crash; that if you had not been “spiked” you would have kept going; that the manner in which you were driving was not acceptable and that you should have pulled over; and that you had taken or used cannabis at 5pm the day before and that you were aware that it may still be in your system although you could no longer feel the effects of it.
The aggravating matters include the prolonged nature of your driving conduct, that your driving risked the safety of other road users, pedestrians, your passenger and pursuing police officers.
You are 24 years old. I have received a report from Forensic Mental Health Services which indicates that you are of low IQ, but not so impaired as to diminish your criminal responsibility for your actions. You left school at age 16 having completed grade 10, and you completed two certificates in small-engine mechanics. You have expressed a desire to work in the motor vehicle industry. The consequence of your offending may well be that you have jeopardised any such prospects. That is regrettable because employment opportunities for you will be scarce, and employment is an important avenue towards rehabilitation. The interest you have demonstrated in motor vehicles and engines, is a prospect for better things for you if you can enhance that interest. However, responsible use of a motor vehicle is essential if you are to have any future in that sort of employment.
I note in your engagement with the clinical psychologist, you described your act of driving as a “dumb, stupid choice”. I accept the submissions made by your counsel that you acknowledge the seriousness of your conduct, and the danger created by it. Indeed, you have acknowledged yourself, in your own words, that your act of driving was accompanied by aggravated features which created a risk for a large number of people. In sentencing you I cannot ignore that risk. Your driving occurred over an extended distance, enhancing the risk that your conduct could cause serious harm. It is the risk of serious harm to innocent people which is central to the policy of the Parliament that this offence should attract the attention of the Supreme Court for the purposes of sentencing.
The Court is obliged to impose a penalty which not only punishes you for your stupidity, but which deters others from engaging in this sort of behaviour. Access to motor vehicles is readily obtained and the risk occasioned by the misuse of motor vehicles is real.
Your record of convictions for motor vehicle related matters is significant, and again it is a matter which cannot be ignored when fixing sentence. Whilst you are not to be punished twice for your prior convictions, those convictions are relevant to my assessment of your character for the purposes of arriving at a sentence.
I note that you have spent time in custody, and I am prepared to accept that period has caused reflection and some personal assessment, and that is reflected in the mental health report which I have received.
In respect of evading police, I am required to impose a separate penalty. It is an aggravating matter in the context of your dangerous driving to the extent that it explains your decision to embark on the course you did, and it will have motivated you to continue that conduct in order to avoid apprehension. In that way, it colours the substantive offence.
You are convicted, Mr King. On the charge of dangerous driving I sentence you to 24 months’ imprisonment. On the charge of evading police I sentence you to 4 months’ imprisonment, cumulative to the sentence I have just imposed, and I disqualify you from holding or obtaining a driver licence for a period of 2 years to commence upon your release. The non-parole period in respect of the dangerous driving charge is 12 months. In respect of the other matters, I record convictions.
The effect of the sentence I have just imposed is that you are sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment, backdated to 8 December 2018, and you must serve 16 months of that sentence before you are eligible to apply for parole.