Anti-vax border breacher Michael Sanders asks Adelaide court for mercy after 235km chase fuelled by bizarre series of events
A meth-addled border breacher dodged three sets of road spikes as police cars and a chopper tailed him for hours in a chase fuelled by unrequited love and vaccine hesitancy.
Police & Courts
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A 235km high-speed police chase that ended in a head-on expressway collision was the last link in a “disastrous chain of events” that began with one man’s refusal to get vaccinated, a court has heard.
On Friday, the District Court was told Michael Sanders’ numerous crimes arose from unemployment, unrequited love, angry social media posts and methylamphetamine.
Those crimes took Sanders from Victoria into South Australia – across the hard Covid-19 border – and culminated in a near-fatal collision on the Northern Expressway.
Rebecca Gristwood, for Sanders, urged the court to show mercy to her drug-addled, sleep-deprived client who recalled the events of November 2021 as if they were “a dream”.
“He was ‘all in the moment’, living moment by moment, and in that moment he didn’t realise how serious it was, nor did he turn his mind to the potential consequences,” she said.
“It was truly a disastrous chain of events.”
Sanders, 29, of Norlane in Victoria, pleaded guilty to offences ranging from causing harm by dangerous driving to resisting police and breaching Covid-19 directions.
In November 2021, he drove at high speed and often on the wrong side of the road into SA – not stopping at the Yamba checkpoint – while pursued by police cars and a helicopter.
Having avoided three road spike traps, he collided head-on with another motorist, fracturing his chest and ankle, before attempting to run away and resist arrest.
On Friday, Ms Gristwood said Sanders’ issues began with his “financial distress”.
“He had been precluded from the construction industry due to a conscious decision not to be vaccinated,” she said.
A friend with “unrequited feelings” for Sanders loaned her car so he could hunt for work, but became upset when he took another woman as a passenger.
Told to return the car, Sanders could not afford the petrol to do so and became increasingly anxious due to his heavy drug use and lack of sleep.
When the car’s owner reported it stolen and posted about Sanders on Facebook – causing people to abuse him – he fled across the border.
“When it was explained to him the chase was in excess of 230km, he was in genuine disbelief … he estimated it lasted 20 minutes and describes it as ‘a dream’,” she said.
“He accepts he made all the wrong decisions and he’s genuinely remorseful for the harm he has caused.”
Prosecutors asked Sanders serve an immediate and lengthy prison term, saying his crimes were at the higher end of the scale for such offences.
Judge Ian Press remanded Sanders in custody for sentencing next month.
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