Portelli escapes ‘hooning’ charge, but guilty of driving offence

Adrian Portelli has been found guilty of a driving offence but escaped a hooning charge after a Victorian court found he ‘lost traction’ of a luxury car.

Adrian Portelli has been found guilty of a driving offence but escaped a hooning charge. Picture: David Crosling/NewsWire

Billionaire Adrian Portelli has been found guilty of a driving offence but escaped a hooning charge after a Victorian court found he “lost traction” of a luxury car.

Magistrate Michael McNamara ruled Mr Portelli did not intentionally lose traction of a grey Mercedes C63 in 2020 around a roundabout in Diggers Rest in Melbourne’s west on a rainy day.

But, Magistrate McNamara found the 36-year-old did fail to have proper control of the car. 

Mr Portelli, who has a personal wealth of about $1.6bn and known for social media stunts, is now set to be fined $296.

He failed to appear for the matter in person on Thursday, after his lawyers told the court last week he was unwell.

Mr Portelli took to Instagram last week to explain he had food poisoning after eating bad oysters.

Adrian Portelli at Summernats. Picture: Instagram

Magistrate McNamara told the court he would not convict Mr Portelli or takeaway his licence, even though it was “tempting to send a message to other young men who might want to do silly things in their cars”.

“In my view, (Mr Portelli) gets the benefit of this being a very old matter. We are now four-and-a-half years down the track,” he said.

“(I am) hopeful that people don’t think this sort of driving is appropriate.”

Mr Portelli has a “high profile” but he should “not be punished for that”, Magistrate McNamara said.

Police prosecutor Alex Turner argued Mr Portelli should have faced serious consequences including a conviction, off the back of a “litany” of old infringement notices, including excessive speeding and driving while his licence was suspended.

Appearing for Mr Portelli, barrister Penny Marcou urged Magistrate McNamara to consider that the offence was more than five-years-old. As well, Mr Marcou said the car was impounded and the matter was “advertised” in the media.

Australian billionaire Adrian Portelli.

In previous court hearings, Mr Portelli denied he was doing donuts around the roundabout.

“(It’s) embarrassing. The GPS just bugged out and … in a moment (I) was going straight, hit the breaks … went around the roundabout again,” he told the court.

Magistrate McNamara said Mr Portelli may have been “frazzled” — to use Mr Portelli’s previous explanation — when his GPS “bugged out” but said he was not satisfied that he deliberately slid around the road.

Leading Senior Constable Glenn Hutton and Leading Senior Constable Christopher Ford were honest and reliable witnesses, Magistrate McNamara said.

Mr Portelli’s lawyers tried to argue that the officers could not say the car was drifting around the roundabout because they could not see the wheels spinning, but “it was not necessary to see the wheels to know it (the car) had lost traction”.

Magistrate McNamara said Mr Portelli failed to have proper control of the car.