STATE OF TASMANIA v BRETT WILLIAMSON 1 APRIL 2022
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
Mr Williamson you have pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving contrary to s 172A of the Criminal Code. You have also pleaded guilty to associated summary offences of evade police and resist a police officer, that later charge arising when police tried to apprehend you. I will deal with those matters pursuant to s 385A of the Criminal Code.
In the early hours of the morning of 4 October 2021, you were driving back to Burnie from Hobart. You had been in Hobart for a social event and had left unexpectedly after a disagreement arose between friends. You had stopped at Campbell Town to have a sleep when you received a phone call from your partner. She advised you that she believed she was having a miscarriage. You and your partner had also experienced a miscarriage earlier in the year. You became very upset and immediately set about returning to Burnie.
At approximately 7.30am Inspector Jones was travelling on the Bass Highway at Don. He was driving an unmarked Subaru Outback. You passed his vehicle. He followed you and monitored your speed. Your vehicle was travelling in excess of 145 km/h. As Inspector Jones got within 60 metres of you, he activated his lights and sirens in order to intercept your vehicle. He also flashed his headlights at you. Whilst you initially slowed, you did not pull over but instead accelerated quickly away. This driving behaviour amounts to the offence of evade police. Inspector Jones notified other members of Tasmania Police about your driving. They attended the Bass Highway at Ulverstone in an endeavour to intercept you. As your motor vehicle approached the Lovett Street overpass, a police officer deployed road spikes in an attempt to stop your vehicle. You swerved sharply into the overtaking lane without indicating, and then back into the left hand lane, again without indicating, in order to avoid the road spikes. You continued to speed along the highway. It seems one of your tyres drove over the road spikes because as police continued to follow you along the Bass Highway they observed your vehicle had a flat right rear tyre. Police continued to follow you along the Bass Highway through to the Howth roundabout. They observed you changing lanes on several occasions without indicating. Road spikes were again deployed west of the Howth roundabout. Once again, your vehicle swerved without indicating to avoid the road spikes. You then travelled through the 80 km/h speed zone at Chasm Creek at speeds estimated at 100 km/h. On a sweeping left hand bend you lost control of the vehicle and it fish-tailed several times before you slowed and regained control. You continued to travel along the Bass Highway past the Harvey Norman shopping complex. At this point your vehicle maintained the speed limit. As you approached the traffic lights at Wilson Street, you swerved your vehicle into the southern-most lane, slowed to allow vehicles travelling through the intersection to pass, and then travelled through the intersection, in disobedience of the red traffic light. You turned off the Bass Highway and travelled onto Mount Street, again without indicating. You proceeded up Mount Street which is a 60 km/h zone, at approximately 80 km/h. You turned off Mount Street onto Sutton Street, again without indicating. As you did so, your vehicle crossed to the incorrect side of the road and travelled for approximately 80 metres on the incorrect side of the road. You turned off Sutton Street into Mark Street, again without indicating, and then into Woodward Avenue, without indicating. You travelled along Woodward Avenue on the incorrect side of the road for approximately 50 metres. At this point, you appeared to slow your vehicle significantly. A marked police divisional van endeavoured to pass your vehicle and intercept you. You swerved sharply, colliding with the divisional van. The impact was sufficient to cause damage to the vehicle. You continued to drive onto Grenville Street. As you attempted a U-turn, Constable Wilcox manoeuvred his marked police vehicle in front of yours so as to prevent you from driving off. Other police officers approached your vehicle and attempted to open the driver’s door. As they did this, you accelerated harshly forward, striking the police vehicle that Constable Wilcox was in. Again, quite substantial damage was done to the police vehicle. You continued to travel along Woodward Avenue for a short distance before pulling into the drive way at [address]. You exited the vehicle and attempted to run into the house. You were apprehended by police and a struggle ensued. Eventually police were able to handcuff you. This behaviour amounts to the offence of resist a police officer.
You were arrested and taken to the Burnie Police Station. You submitted to an oral fluid analysis. It detected the presence of THC. I note the allegation of breaching the Road Safety, (Alcohol & Drugs) Act will be dealt within the Magistrates Court.
The course of driving covered a distance of approximately 45 kilometres. The main of the driving occurred on the Bass Highway where traffic was moderate. The last 4 kilometres of the driving occurred in a suburban residential area where, despite the time of day, it was likely that other road users would be coming and going. I am familiar with that area. It has a number of partly concealed driveways and reduced visibility corners. Some of the speeds you were travelling at on the Bass Highway were excessive. It is likely you would have been unable to take any action to prevent harm to another road user if something unexpected had occurred or you had lost control of your vehicle. Your course of driving culminated in you ramming two police vehicles. Police officers were in those vehicles when you did so. It is fortunate none of them were seriously injured. Your driving behaviour was directed at avoiding interception by police. Such a focus exacerbates the danger because it creates an ambivalence about the safety of other road users. Every road user has the right to expect that other road users will act responsibly. Clearly on this occasion, you did not.
You are 22 years of age. Your driving record is a relatively innocuous one. In 2018 you were issued with an infringement notice for exceeding the speed limit by 10–14 km/h. In 2020 you were convicted of driving a motor vehicle with a prescribed illicit drug present in your oral fluid (THC). You are in a stable relationship and have been for the past two years. You are employed as a casual landscaper. I have been provided with a letter from your employer. You are obviously well-regarded by him. You have a good work history having always maintained employment since leaving school at the end of grade 10. It does appear as though this driving behaviour was out of character for you. The distress and panic you experienced when you received the phone call from your partner advising you of the miscarriage seems to be the catalyst for it. I accept that would have been a most distressing phone call to receive, particularly given you and your partner had experienced another miscarriage earlier in the year. But, you received the phone call at Campbell Town and had plenty of time to consider alternate options to provide her with support. There is of course no evidence to suggest you were driving in a dangerous manner prior to police first observing you at Don, and it is trite to say you are only to be sentenced for the act of dangerous driving to which you have pleaded guilty, but in assessing the circumstances surrounding your driving, I note you had considerable time to reflect upon things and I do not accept that the situation you found yourself in could properly be described as a “situational crisis”, as was suggested in the psychological report tendered on your behalf. That being said, I do accept the distressing news you received was playing on your mind and led you to behave in a way that was uncharacteristic. I have regard to the balance of the psychological report. I am told that when you saw police activate their lights you panicked and your only thought was to keep driving so as to get back to your partner. Obviously, you should have stopped. Instead, you proceeded to drive a considerable distance in a dangerous manner, showing no regard for the safety of others.
Whilst not all aspects of your driving behaviour fall towards the upper range of seriousness, some aspects of your driving behaviour were particularly poor. As noted, you drove for a significant distance, at high speed and in circumstances where you knew police were endeavouring to pull you over. You sped through residential areas, at times on the wrong side of the road. You rammed two police vehicles. Driving such as this can easily result in catastrophic consequences. General deterrence and community protection are important sentencing considerations. Parliament has made it very clear, by making this offence one which must be dealt with in the Supreme Court, that dangerous driving is not to be tolerated and a strong response is required from the courts in order to deter others and make the roads safer for the public.
Because offences such as this typically attract periods of imprisonment, even in circumstances where defendants are without a history of prior offending, I had you assessed as to your suitability for home detention. You are considered unsuitable for a period of home detention, largely because of your living arrangements. That sentencing option not being available, I have determined that I must impose a sentence of imprisonment. It is the only available sentencing option that adequately reflects the objective seriousness of the offending. However, because I accept this behaviour was out of character for you and you have demonstrated an ongoing willingness to reform, I am going to suspend the period of imprisonment I impose. I will also require you to perform community service so as to maintain a strong punitive aspect to the sentence.
I am required to impose a separate sentence for the evade police charge. In doing so, I am conscious of the need to ensure the overall punishment is proportionate to your conduct, and you are not punished twice for the same criminal conduct, given the continuous nature of the driving behaviour.
I make the following orders. You are convicted of all matters to which you have pleaded guilty. In respect to the offence of resist a police officer, I make no further order. With respect to the crime of dangerous driving, you are sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 12 months. The whole of that period of imprisonment will be suspended on two conditions: 1 – that you not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment for two years and 2 – that you perform 120 hours of community service. You are disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for a period of two years, backdated to commence on 4 October 2021. With respect to the offence of evade police, I impose a two month period of imprisonment cumulative to the 12 month period of imprisonment just imposed. That period of imprisonment is also wholly suspended on the same two conditions. You are disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for a period of six months. That will operate concurrently with the disqualification imposed on the dangerous driving charge.
A community correction order is imposed from today for an operational period of two years, with a special condition requiring you to complete 120 hours of community service. During the period of that order you must comply with any directions given to you by a probation officer or community service supervisor, and satisfactorily perform the community service as directed by a probation officer or community service supervisor. I impose the statutory core conditions of a community corrections order. Those conditions will be set out in a document that will be provided to you. You must report to Community Corrections Reece House Burnie by close of business Monday 4 April 2022.
The effect of my sentencing orders Mr Williamson is that you have a 14 month period of imprisonment hanging over your head for the next two years. You also have 120 hours of community service work to complete in the next two years. You are disqualified from driving for two years. That disqualification period commenced on 4 October 2021. I need to explain to you that if you do commit an offence punishable by imprisonment, or you fail to properly complete the 120 hours of community service, you can be brought back to this Court and an application made that you serve the suspended term of imprisonment. The law is that a judge has to activate that sentence unless it is unjust to do so.
I also order that there be a compensation order in favour of the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management in the sum of $10,050.81.