A 27-year-old man who stuck his finger up as he drove at 158 km/h an hour through a speed camera had offended with a serious and prolonged episode of dangerous driving, a Supreme Court judge said.
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Tyrell Anthony Bailey, of George Town, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and evading police on September 9, 2023.
He was also sentenced for dishonestly displaying a false number plate, breaching a family violence order and evading police.
Justice Robert Pearce said in sentencing that there had been an increase in penalties for such offences over the past 10 years showing how seriously the community viewed such driving.
The facts of the case were read in a previous hearing.
The court heard that police recognised a Mitsubishi Magna at a bottle shop in Devonport.
Soon after they spoke to the driver [Bailey], a person who was protected from Bailey by a family violence order, hopped into the car.
Police told him he was under arrest, but he put the Magna into reverse and backed into the police vehicle.
"He then drove forward and made contact with the wall of the bottle shop," a prosecutor James Thompson said.
Bailey drove through the middle of a roundabout in William Street Devonport before turning onto the Bass Highway and heading east.
He turned left at Port Sorrell Road and sped, crossing double white lines and overtaking vehicles.
At one stage, he was on the wrong side of the road for 300 metres.
Numerous witnesses called the police about his driving.
Justice Pearce said at 9.42 am on Wesley Vale Road, he was snapped on a speed camera and had made an indecent gesture.
"You were next seen 70 kilometres away on the West Tamar Highway between Legana and Riverside," he said.
He sped on the incorrect side of the road and overtook numerous vehicles.
He tailgated a car for about 200 metres at less than two metres behind.
On a couple of occasions, his overtaking manoeuvre caused his right front tyre to veer off the sealed section into gravel.
Bailey clipped the left side mirror of a car when overtaking.
Police did not catch up with Bailey until November 4, 2023, and he has been in custody since.
He said all Bailey's actions were aimed at avoiding apprehension because he had been caught driving with drugs in his system four times in the previous month.
"This added to your desperation to avoid being apprehended," Justice Pearce said.
"It was a serious example of dangerous driving over a prolonged period of more than an hour on busy roads where road conditions were affected by rain in both speed and manner of driving."
Justice Pearce imposed a 14 days' jail for the false number plate, a month for breaching the family violence order and three months for the evading police under aggravated circumstances.
For dangerous driving he imposed a 22 months' jail sentence backdated to December 14, 2023.
He ordered Bailey serve 15 months before being eligible for parole and suspended 11 months.
He was disqualified from driving for three years.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
