AN UNLICENSED Delacombe teenager who rammed a police car on Monday has been told “the time has come” to pay for his continued disregard for the law, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trevor Scott, 19, was jailed for four months yesterday after he committed a string of drug and driving offences over the past two months. Ballarat Magistrates Court heard that on one occasion Scott performed up to 14 “donuts” at a Sebastopol intersection before driving off, despite having never held a driver’s license.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Pepe Brown said Scott’s car was also impounded on New Years Eve after the teenager reached speeds of up to 110km/h in a 60km/h zone in Delacombe.
Police were following with warning lights flashing at the time but both parties agreed it was not a pursuit. Then on Monday, Scott was intercepted by an unmarked police car while driving in Mount Pleasant.
Leading Senior Constable Brown said Scott pulled over, but when the officers got out of the car Scott reversed backwards heavily, ramming the police vehicle and causing damage.
But Scott didn’t flee the scene as police expected, he pulled into a nearby driveway where the officers searched him, finding two deal bags containing amphetamines.
The utility he was driving was carrying fake number plates.
“He knows he shouldn’t be driving but he continues to snub his nose at the law and put the community at risk,” magistrate Peter Couzens told the court. He’s lawless, he couldn’t care less. “The time has come.”
Defence lawyer Mike Wardell urged the court to consider a community corrections order or any other non-custodial sentence, saying Scott had accepted responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty.
He said Scott hadn’t obtained his driver’s license yet because he had a learning disability and struggled to read and write. But Mr Wardell acknowledged the offending was serious.
“Clearly his driving is a problem in so far as he’s driving at speed and driving dangerously,” he said.
“Clearly this man is in need of some intervention ... some support in terms of rehabilitation.”
However Mr Couzens could not be persuaded, saying Scott needed to be deterred from getting behind the wheel. Scott will serve the sentence in a youth justice centre.
He pleaded guilty to 19 charges including careless driving, and four counts of unlicensed driving.