By Cam Lucadou-Wells
An intoxicated, disqualified Doveton driver repeatedly rammed police vehicles in his driveway and smashed through a neighbour’s yard in a panicked bid to escape arrest, a court has heard.
Alex Daniel Wilson, 34, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to 12 charges including five counts of aggravated intentionally exposing an emergency worker to risk by driving.
Sentencing judge Geoffrey Chettle said on 30 August that Wilson imperilled five police officers as well as a male neighbour while driving in an “extraordinarily dangerous and reckless manner” on 21 October 2021.
Wilson made a “frenetic” escape in a stolen Nissan 4WD after police units, including the Air Wing and canine unit, converged on his Doveton home.
Despite being instructed to stop, he repeatedly used his vehicle as a “weapon” by battering into his driveway gate and a police van, which was forced back into another police car.
Unable to get past, Wilson ploughed through his neighbour’s side fence, Judge Chettle said.
The 4WD crashed into the neighbour’s front verandah handrail on the way out – within about two metres from the neighbour.
Two officers, trapped in the neighbour’s back yard, broke down a fence to escape onto the street.
Despite driving over stop-sticks, Wilson drove on two deflated tyres for three kilometres. He stopped in William Avenue, Hallam and was soon arrested.
After his arrest, an apologetic Wilson told police he’d taken “juice” – which was probably 1,4 butanediol, Judge Chettle said.
Meth was also detected in his blood at the time.
Wilson’s defence lawyer argued his offending was linked to his mild intellectual disability and mental illness including schizophrenia, severe depression and anxiety, substance abuse disorder and PTSD.
However, his mental impairment was also heightened by his intoxication at the time.
Judge Chettle noted drugs and alcohol had been “integral” in Wilson’s life since his teens.
He’d served jail and CCOs for an extensive repeated history of stealing vehicles, driving disqualified and failing to stop at police directions.
He’d regularly driven away from police, putting people in danger, Judge Chettle noted. His rehabilitation prospects were “poor”, the court heard.
In mitigation, Wilson pleaded guilty at an early stage, showed remorse and suffered a traumatic childhood.
Wilson was jailed for five years, including a three-year non-parole period. He had already served 313 days in pre-sentence custody.
