Christopher James Jones, Robert Anthony James Heeman sentenced in Warwick court over dangerous crash

A 30yo unlicensed driver who wrote off a vehicle while trying to skid through a roundabout with the car’s owner right beside him has been warned he is lucky he didn’t hurt himself or anyone else in the reckless manoeuvre. FULL STORY:

An unlicensed Warwick man involved in a dangerous hooning attempt that ended with him and another man who allowed him to drive running off the road and crashing has been slammed for risking his own and others’ lives in the reckless act.

Christopher James Jones was behind the wheel of a car that crashed at the roundabout near Bracker Rd and McEvoy St at about 10pm on June 24, with Robert Anthony James Heeman named as the owner of the vehicle at the time.

Warwick Magistrates Court heard police arrived at the scene to find the two men and another two passengers standing around the wreckage, and observed skid marks about 15m in length leading up to the crash site.

Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said Jones quickly came clean about the dangerous manoeuvre that caused the damage.

“He admitted to trying to make the back of the vehicle lose traction and powerslide through the roundabout, but he lost control of the vehicle and crashed,” Sergeant de Lissa said.

“He was asked whether his actions were dangerous, and he said he thought they were.”

Sergeant de Lissa said Jones’s risky driving was made all the more serious by the fact the 30-year-old had never held a driver’s licence.

The Warwick court was told Heeman was considering selling the car to Jones, with the pair and their other unnamed passengers on the road that night to allow Jones to test-drive the vehicle.

A self-represented Jones told the court that he alone decided to attempt the move and was not being egged on by anyone else in the vehicle, and knew at the time that it was illegal for him to be behind the wheel while unlicensed.

He said he had failed his first attempt at a licence when he was 17 and had not tried again since, as he struggled to read and write properly.

His 29-year-old co-offender claimed he thought the test drive would only be “up the road”, saying he relied on selling cars for a living and had been forced to write off the $700 vehicle following the crash.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess rebuked both men for their recklessness, warning the pair they were fortunate that no one in their vehicle or another innocent driver on the roads had been injured as a result.

“It was a very foolish thing to do, to let someone who was unlicensed drive, and you kind of deserve the consequences in losing that vehicle,” Ms Sturgess said in sentencing Heeman for his role.

Heeman pleaded guilty to one count of permitting another to drive while unlicensed and was fined $250.

Jones pleaded guilty to one count each of dangerous operation of a vehicle and unlicensed driving having never held a licence.

He was fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for nine months. No conviction was recorded.