AUTHORITIES may as well “talk to a brick wall” if they think a man charged with high speed driving over the weekend won’t reoffend.
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This was police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Toole’s assessment on Wednesday as Luke James Saurine faced Goulburn Local Court.
The 27-year-old Moorebank man pleaded guilty to a string of charges following a 27km police chase along the Hume Highway on Saturday in which he reached 183km/h.
A six-year-old girl was lying asleep, unrestrained in the back seat of his Ford Falcon.
He was charged with Skye’s Law; driving while disqualified (second offence); drive with an unrestrained child over four-years old and less than seven; and leaving a child in a motor vehicle causing emotional distress. Several other backup speeding charges were withdrawn.
Saurine has been in Goulburn Jail since his arrest last Saturday. Police alleged he was travelling at 134km/h when they first detected him at Mt Gray on Goulburn’s northern outskirts.
He failed to stop when they tried to intercept him and despite activating lights and sirens, he sped off at 174km/h, moving in and out of traffic. Saurine reached a top speed of 183km/h and at one point north of Marulan, crossed into both southbound lanes between traffic, did a 360 degree turn and swung back into the northbound lanes.
His trip ended when he lost control of the car at the intersection of the Hume Highway and Highland Way and smashed into an Armco railing. Saurine ran away, but police tackled him soon after.
Inside the car, “the child was visibly upset and emotional,” police said. Asked why he hadn’t stopped when directed, Saurine reportedly said: “I’m a disqualified driver and I didn’t want to go to jail.”
In fact he had been disqualified from driving until 2035, had been charged with Skye’s Law in 2011 for which he’d served a prison term, and had 10 other driving offences to his name, four of those involving a police pursuit, the court heard. The most recent was driving while disqualified at Liverpool. On Wednesday, solicitor Les Heinrich asked that the matter be moved to Liverpool Local Court to allow Saurine to seek legal representation. He also requested a pre-sentence report to assist sentencing. Police prosecutor Sergeant Toole vigorously opposed both requests.
“He has nothing going for him in terms of mitigation,” he said.
“You may as well talk to a brick wall because he will continue to offend. He has been disqualified from driving until 2035 and this occurred while he was disqualified. We are asking the maximum penalty…”
Sgt Toole said the case had gained some notoriety not least due to the speed and the fact a child was in the car. Police were seeking a prison term on top of any handed down at Liverpool and wanted to ensure they weren’t served concurrently.
“We are going for the jugular and with good reason,” Sgt Toole said.
Magistrate Mark Douglass described the charges as very serious and agreed the matter should not be shifted to another court.
“We would be letting the local police and the community down in transferring this,” he said.
“Goulburn sits close to the Hume Highway and the court is aware of a number of other high speed offences. I think we need to send a message so it serves as a deterrent.”
Magistrate Douglass said he expected Saurine would be sent to prison fulltime. But he allowed the pre-sentence report to be compiled, saying it could take into account “subjective circumstances” the court might need to consider.
“This is a serious matter and…there have been numerous sentences (given to the accused) going back many years including bonds, supervision, imprisonment and probation and parole and he has no right for it to leave this court,” he said.
He adjourned the matter until September 17.