A MAGISTRATE yesterday questioned a young father as to how he would one day explain his offending to his three-year-old son.
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Christopher Dawson, 21, of Ballarat, appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court, where he pleaded guilty to a string of charges, including being a learner driver without an experienced driver beside.
“Your son isn’t always going to be three, he’ll be 15, 16, 17, one day,” magistrate Peter Mithen said.
“How are you going to explain this to him?”
“I’m not sure,” came the reply from Dawson.
The court heard Dawson was caught by police on March 19 this year driving a car with no number plates.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Pepe Brown said Dawson produced a learner’s permit, yet had no qualified driver beside him, while the car also had a false registration sticker on the front window.
Asked by police why he didn’t have learner plates on the car, Dawson told police “I was breaking enough laws as it is, I didn’t worry about it”.
Kylie Maloney, for Dawson, said her client had recently got his life back on track by obtaining a licence and a full-time job.
Ms Maloney said at the time of the offending, Dawson – a car lover – couldn’t fight the temptation to drive his new car.
Mr Mithen convicted Dawson and fined him $1000.