Updated, Monday 4pm: A Coleraine motorist who repeatedly fled police, nearly causing a crash on a single-lane bridge, won't serve another day in jail.
Samuel Edwards, 21, was jailed on Monday for the 158 days he served in custody on remand.
He will now commence an 18-month community correction order with the condition he do 90 hours of unpaid community work, as well as treatment for drug abuse.
Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa said a psychiatric report showed Edwards suffered a substance abuse disorder and a clear inability to think ahead when making decisions.
He said the driving behaviour was seriously dangerous and he was lucky he didn't kill himself or other road users.
Earlier: A car crash that cost a young offender his job didn't deter him from driving at dangerous speeds while fleeing police, a court has heard.
Coleraine's Samuel Edwards, 21, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday to drug trafficking and serious driving offences.
The court heard police were called to reports of a stolen VE Holden sedan travelling at a fast rate of speed in Casterton on July 2 last year about 9.30am.
Edwards was observed driving near Old Mount Gambier Road when police attempted to intercept him.
He fled the scene, speeding at 101 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.
Police in two unmarked vehicles observed the man two weeks later driving an unregistered Nissan Navara, which had no brake lights, tail lights or registration plates.
Upon sighting the red and blue lights Edwards fled the scene, at one point becoming temporarily bogged near a Casterton pine plantation.
The pursuit was abandoned.
Then on July 20, Edwards again evaded police after being sighted driving a white utility in Casterton's Anderson Road - a busy community location for vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Police recognised the man, who was wanted on numerous outstanding warrants, and activated their emergency lights as he approached a one-lane stop bridge.
Edwards continued onto the bridge, into oncoming traffic and became boxed in.
He conducted a 180-degree turn at high speed, almost losing control and collecting bridge barriers.
Edwards fled in a southerly direction along the Glenelg River to avoid apprehension.
A witness told police she was shaken up and if she had entered the bridge any sooner "things may have ended different".
Edwards is a disqualified learner driver.
The court heard he was arrested on July 21 after he attended a Casterton cafe where he was identified by the owner as a wanted person.
Edwards was conveyed to a nearby police station where he told police he had consumed methamphetamine and not slept for several days prior.
He was found in possession of a gram of the drug ice, three grams of cannabis, two sets of digital scales, $399 cash and numerous mobile phones.
Text messages located on the phones revealed he'd been trafficking the drug ice for a prolonged period.
The man also pleaded guilty to biting, punching and scratching a woman that was known to him back in 2020.
On Monday, Adrian Paull, representing Edwards, said his client was a young offender who had served 148 days in custody on remand.
He said Edwards' daily methamphetamine addiction underpinned what appeared to be "a frenzy of offending".
The lawyer said it was conceded the driving offending was "horrendous" and placed the community and police at risk.
He said Edwards had previously been in a car crash that cost him his employment.
"There is tremendous irony that some of these (offences) put so many people at risk of the roads," Mr Paull said.
"As a young person he had not developed the insight in the consequences of his conduct".
Edwards will be assessed for a community correction order and is expected to be sentenced on April 11.
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Jessica Howard
Email: jessica.howard@warrnamboolstandard.com.au
Email: jessica.howard@warrnamboolstandard.com.au
