Daniel Hall sent to jail at Macksville court for Nambucca police chase, crash

A father with a ‘disgraceful’ traffic record has been sentenced after leading police on a high speed chase and crashing into a rock wall. See how it played out in court.

Macksville courthouse.

A father has been jailed for repeatedly driving with drugs in his system and leading police on a high speed chase ending in a crash on a busy Nambucca Heads street.

He had a passenger with him at the time.

Daniel John Hall became highly agitated at Macksville Local Court on Thursday when he realised he was going to jail.

The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to a range of offences, including four charges stemming from an incident at Nambucca Heads on September 29 last year about 9pm.

When officers noticed Hall making a U-turn across double lines they activated their lights and followed but Hall sped up.

The pursuit reached speeds of 100km in a 50km zone and when he attempted to turn into Piggott street he failed to negotiate the bend and smashed into a large rock retaining wall.

Daniel John Hall.

His lawyer told the court that Hall suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panicked when he saw the police lights behind him.

Hall has suffered significant deprivation throughout his life “including from before birth”, his lawyer told the court - urging the magistrate to sentence him to a community based order rather than a full-time custodial sentence.

Magistrate Julia Virgo said Hall had been given “numerous supervision based orders that have not addressed the problem” and that the sentencing assessment report before her “did not assist him”.

She described his traffic record as “disgraceful” and “extremely concerning”.

An aggravating factor in the police chase was that Hall had a passenger in the car with him at the time, Ms Virgo told the court.

Following the September 29 police chase Hall pleaded guilty to being involved in a police pursuit, driving while disqualified, driving recklessly or furiously and driving with an illicit drug in his system for a second time (cannabis).

The reckless driving charge was later withdrawn following his guilty plea.

He also pleaded guilty to another charge of driving with an illicit drug in his system for a second time (cannabis) on August 5 at Newee Creek.

He was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of five months.

Hall will first be eligible for parole on August 6.

Upon his release he will be disqualified from driving for a total of two years.

He was fined $800 for the one charge of driving with an illicit drug in his system for a second time, and convicted for the second charge but no penalty imposed.

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