A CURDIEVALE man with a poor driving record who sought to blame someone else for his involvement in a 100km/h police chase through central Warrnambool has received a suspended jail sentence.
Michael James Parore, 26, of Timboon-Curdievale Road, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to failing to stop when requested by police, driving in a dangerous manner and reckless conduct endangering serious injury.
He was convicted, fined $1500 and jailed for three months but the term was suspended for 18 months. His driver's licence was also suspended for nine months and his car was impounded for three months, which will incur daily fees.
At 12.20pm on June 10 last year Parore was driving a red Nissan near Cannon Hill when police attempted to pull him over for a random check.
He accelerated heavily east down Merri Street as police activated their lights and sirens before turning left into Merri Street and losing control briefly.
Parore than turned left into Timor Street and headed back to the central business district with police estimating his speed at about 100 km/h.
He turned left into Liebig Street and left again into Merri Street before police decided to terminate the pursuit.
When interviewed by police a couple of days later Parore made full admissions to his driving saying he "spun out when he saw the police lights" and "I went into a different world".
However, during a contest mention in court last week Parore claimed to have not been the driver and blamed someone who he said was serving a jail term.
He declined to name the driver because he said he was afraid of the man.
Defence counsel Amanda Chambers said her client's past interaction with police had not been a positive experience and Parore panicked while driving.
"If he had pulled over when instructed to do so we would not be here," she said.
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said Parore's driving was extraordinarily dangerous and such behaviour put all road users at risk.
"Roads are not race tracks. It's dangerous driving at extremely high speeds. People don't expect someone to be driving at 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone," he said.
"It's behaviour the community will not tolerate. You are now on notice - any more significant breaches of the law will result in very significant penalties," he said.