Mark Seiler, 30, pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering serious injury, unlicensed driving, using an unregistered motor vehicle and fraudulently using number plates in the Ballarat Magistrates Court.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Clint Prebble said Seiler was exchanging property with his ex-partner at a Mawarra Drive home in Delacombe on October 15 last year when he became abusive and aggressive.

When police arrived at the property, Seiler was sitting in his unregistered car, which was parked out the front of the house.

He sped off along Aminya Avenue, ignoring police lights and sirens, before the vehicle became airborne.

Seiler turned into Whitelaw Avenue, swinging his vehicle to the left, before failing to give way at the Sutton Street intersection, forcing two oncoming cars to brake heavily.

Senior Constable Prebble said Seiler drove fast along Sutton Street, with pedestrians standing at a parked vehicle on the roadside

forced to jump out of the way when he skidded close to them.

Seiler then skidded left into Wallis Street, where he stopped due to heavy traffic, and was apprehended.

Defence counsel David Tamanika said “emotions were running high” at the property exchange with Seiler’s ex-partner.

“He felt he was being dictated to and just had a brain snap,” Mr Tamanika said.

Documentation handed to magistrate Cynthia Toose indicated Seiler had an acquired brain injury.

“He just wanted to get out of there, that’s why he drove.”

Ms Toose, who said it was a “difficult position” due to the abolition of suspended sentences, ordered Seiler to do 150 hours of community work over 12 months, cancelled his licence for a year and fined him $500.

“This is precisely the sort of offence that kills innocent people,” Ms Toose said.

fiona.henderson@fairfaxmedia.com.au