Billy Joachim, 20, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to dangerous driving while pursued by police, failing to stop after an accident, driving while disqualified and driving an unregistered vehicle.
The court heard police turned on their lights and sirens to try and stop Joachim when they spotted him riding a blue and white dirt bike that had no registration plates on it in Wyndham St, Shepparton, near the Macintosh St intersection, at about 2.40pm on November 13 last year.
Joachim did not stop, instead riding on to the wrong side of the road, directly at traffic, to evade police.
When he returned to the correct side of the road, Joachim collided with the back side of a car that had taken evasive action to avoid him.
The crash caused $1815 damage to the car.
Joachim then rode on to the pedestrian path at the lake and then on to a path into bushland between Shepparton and Mooroopna.
The police airwing was then used to track him until he stopped at a house on Wilmot Rd.
Joachim was found at the address and the motorbike was impounded.
Joachim had a cancelled driver’s licence and the motorbike was unregistered.
Joachim’s solicitor Megan McKenna told the court her client was in the Koori Court last year in “extremely similar circumstances”, and was placed on a community corrections order.
She also told the court Joachim had an intellectual disability.
Ms McKenna said while she acknowledged the offending came soon after he was placed on the community corrections order, she said it was only a short time afterwards, and it had not had long to take effect.
She said he was “doing well” on the order now, and among the programs he was doing were ones that assisted him with problem-solving skills and emotional regulation.
She also told the court Joachim had a difficult childhood and had witnessed domestic violence, and that his father died when he was 12 years old.
Ms McKenna asked for a community corrections order that involved community work only.
However, magistrate Olivia Trumble said that while Joachim was doing well on the current order, she did not want to add community work into the mix at this stage.
Instead, she deferred his sentence until August, and suggested that in the meantime he try to find himself some regular volunteer work.
“It would be more meaningful than if he did corrections-ordered work,” she said.
“If you can do that, we might not put you on a work hours community corrections order.”
Ms Trumble also told Joachim to take part in the Cool Heads young driver program.
16°C