Lachlan Haines pleads guilty to bribing driving instructor Jawad Joe Dimachki

A “stupid” man paid a huge bribe to an infamously dodgy driving instructor for a “guaranteed pass”, but all the while he was being recorded with a covert listening device.

Lachlan James-Eaton Haines leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Sean Fewster

When a 19-year-old apprentice carpenter needed a driver‘s license fast, he turned to South Australia’s most infamously corrupt instructor.

Guided by his school friends, then-teen Lachlan James-Eaton Haines paid Jawad Joe Dimachki $500 – more than the going rate of $150 – to pass him, without testing, so he could fulfil the requirements of his carpentry apprenticeship.

On Tuesday, Magistrate John Wells said Haines, now 24, had joined the ranks of the state’s immature and stupid offenders – and no doubt shamed his family – by taking the shortcut.

“Young men frequently do stupid things,” he said.

“You join the ranks of immature young men who have done something very unwise.”

Lachlan James-Eaton Haines leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Sean Fewster

In March 2019, Dimachki was jailed for six years, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months, for his corrupt behaviour.

Between June and September 2017, he charged his students between $400 and $500 for a guaranteed “pass” regardless of their level of competency.

Dimachki used the money he rorted to pay for massage parlours and escorts – his mother, Ibtisam, was spared jail for her role in the offending on condition of a bond.

In November 2018, Abdul Kajani and Ethan Quadros were convicted of corruption offences over their dealings with Dimachki.

Quadros paid Dimachki $450 to issue a licence to Kajani.

Jawad Joe Dimachki is seen leaving the South Australian District Court in 2018. Picture: AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

Ibtisam Dimachki outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Sean Fewster.

Abdul Kajani leaving the South Australian District Court in 2018. PictureL (AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

Ethan Quadros leaving the South Australian District Court in 2018. Picture: AAP Image/Kelly Barnes

Kajani and Dimachki never met, and Kajani never sat a test – he claimed he was “too nervous” to do so.

The duo’s four-month prison terms were suspended on condition of 18-month good behaviour bonds.

The Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard fresh details about the investigation into Dimachki.

A prosecutor told the court a listening device had been deployed in the dodgy driving instructor’s car, capturing the conversations he had with students looking for a “guaranteed pass”.

Haines, in September 2017, was one of them.

The court heard Haines handed over the cash before asking, “are we just going to go for a bit of a cruise?”

He asked Dimachki if he had been “audited much” before telling him he could drive, but that he had not done so much recently.

“I failed my last test and did, like, a legit one,” Haines told Dimachki.

All the while, the investigation by the state’s Infrastructure and Transport Department was listening to every word.

Those words, and his actions, saw Haines charged with bribery and solicit, receive, accept, give offer or furnish.

Mr Wells dealt with Haines, of Christie Downs, without imposing a conviction, or fine, but ordering him to complete 60 hours of community service over the next 18 months.