Wade Stanley Knox sentenced for dangerous driving, crime spree
Speeding down a wet country road, a 28-year-old escaped criminal’s eight weeks on the run came to a crashing end after endangering the lives of two other drivers. Find out what happened:
Police & Courts
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A 28-year-old Gympie region man has fronted court after he went on an eight week crime spree while on the run, which only ended when he was cut from the wreckage of a mangled car.
Wade Stanley Knox pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court via video link on Thursday afternoon, to nine charges spanning the Sunshine Coast and Gympie from between August 25 and October 22, 2021.
His offences included escaping from lawful custody, two counts of stealing fuel from Sunshine Coast and Gympie service stations, four counts of driving while disqualified, dangerous driving and drug driving.
Knox did not have any supporters in the public gallery for his appearance.
The court heard the crime spree began on August 26 when Knox was approached by police and arrested under a return to prison warrant after his parole was cancelled.
But before he could be taken into custody, he fled.
Knox spent the next eight weeks on the run from police, and went on a crime spree, stealing fuel for a car he was disqualified from driving.
On October 10, he stole fuel from a 7-Eleven at Little Mountain, and eight days later on October 18, stole fuel from Coles in Gympie.
The crime spree reached dangerous heights when Knox was seen speeding and swerving in and out of traffic on Sandy Creek Rd at Veteran; a move which police prosecutor Melissa Campbell said “put lives at risk”.
Magistrate Chris Callaghan said Knox was seen doing an estimated 120km/h in an 80km/h zone, approaching a bend before a bridge.
The roads were wet at the time.
“You overtook the first witness’s vehicle, you approached the second vehicle driven by another witness, you overtook her on solid double lines, which prevent overtaking,” he said.
As Knox approached the turn, he lost control of the car and drove into a bridge guard rail, trapping him inside with a spinal injury.
Mr Callaghan said the witnesses he had overtaken pulled over and called 000.
Knox was pulled from the mangled wreck with a serious spinal fracture, and airlifted to Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
He was taken into custody once he was discharged from hospital.
Knox was also found to have drugs in his system after the crash, but it was not suggested he was under the influence at the time.
Defence lawyer Chris Anderson said his client had spent six months in pre-sentence custody, which coincided with another sentence he was serving at the time.
Mr Callaghan sentenced Knox to two and a half years behind bars, but he will only serve 10 months before he is eligible for parole on August 2, 2022.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years.
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