Scaffolder drove car to court appearance, loses licence

A disqualified driver has lost his licence for two years after driving his vehicle to a court appearance.

Police tape. Picture: Contributed

A DISQUALIFIED driver has lost his licence for two years after driving his vehicle to a court appearance.

Appearing before Ipswich Magistrates Court, Zach Paulo Lokeni, 26, a scaffolder from Springfield, pleaded guilty to driving when disqualified at Ripley on July 18; failing to appear at court; and breach of bail.

Prosecutor Sergeant Brad Dick said police came across Lokeni at Inala on October 10 and spoke to him about his failure to attend court on September 3.

Lokeni told police he had been evicted and spent the day moving his belongings.

Defence lawyer Erin Dwan said Lokeni was a renter and was given 24 hours' notice to vacate before the bank took possession of the property from its owner.

Ms Dwan said her client failed to attend court as a result of the disruption.

She told the court that on the day he was charged with disqualified driving, Lokeni had been driving to court.

She said her instructions were that he had no other way to get there and made the decision that is it was better to risk disqualified driving.

The charge of failing to attend court was struck out.

Magistrate David Shepherd said driving to court when disqualified showed a complete lack of judgment. He fined Lokeni $1000 and disqualified his licence two years.