Jack Oscar Antonio pleads guilty to two disqualified driving charges and is off roads until 2027

A 21-year-old Millmerran man had been disqualified from driving by the court. Just weeks later he was caught driving again.

A 21-year-old Millmerran man caught driving while disqualified twice on the same day has been handed a jail term.

Jack Oscar Antonio had the “distinction” of being the first person to front Toowoomba Magistrates Court in 2024 when he appeared via video link from the watch house where he had been since Saturday.

Antonio had been seen driving into a service station at Captains Mountain west of Millmerran about 4am Saturday, December 30, police prosecutor Julia Wheaton told the court on Monday, January 1.

He was again spotted driving into the BP service station about 7.40am the same day, she said.

When spoken to by police some hours later, Antonio said he had made a “stupid mistake” to drive a friend from Millmerran to Goondiwindi, Sergeant Wheaton said.

The Toowoomba Courthouse in Hume St, Toowoomba City.

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to both disqualified driving offences as well as to contravening a police direction to provide identifying particulars within seven days from November 23 and to breaching a curfew condition of bail.

Duty lawyer Alysha Jacobsen, of Bouchier Khan Lawyers, told the court her client had been concerned for his mate who was going to ride a motorcycle to Goondiwindi after losing another friend to a motorcycle crash just six months ago so he decided to drive him instead.

The 21-year-old lived with his mother in Millmerran and though he hadn’t worked since leaving the mines about 12 months ago he intended looking for work, she said.

Magistrate Kay Ryan noted Antonio had been sentenced in the Millmerran Magistrates Court for two counts of disqualified driving on December 8 yet just weeks later was again driving.

Ms Ryan sentenced Antonio to three months in jail but ordered the whole term be suspended for nine months and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for two years on each driving offence taking his total disqualification period out to December 2027.

Originally published as Jack Oscar Antonio pleads guilty to two disqualified driving charges and is off roads until 2027