Mason Sheaffe sentenced for negligent driving, stealing a car and Hume Highway police chase

A teen has been sentenced after a wild high-speed chase in a stolen car 420km from home - in the state’s Riverina region - during lockdown.

A teen who unknowingly brought Covid to Wagga has been sentenced for leading police on a dangerous chase in a stolen car on the Hume Highway while on bail for another offence.

Mason Sheaffe, 18, appeared at Goulburn Local Court via audio-visual link on Wednesday, after most recently having his bail application rejected in the Supreme Court last Tuesday.

The court heard the application was lodged so he could find work again to support his girlfriend who is expecting their first child in May.

The apprentice carpenter had previously pleaded guilty to the range of offences, including negligent driving, stealing a car, and failing to comply with Covid restrictions and the directions of police officers.

Sheaffe had illegally left Wollongong, a then-lockdown zone, to visit Wagga on September 28.

Police facts state the pursuit started after the teen caught the attention of police when he passed a patrol car and revved his engine, showing off a defective exhaust.

When cops approached the P-plater in his Mitsubishi Lancer, Sheaffe sped off on to the Hume Highway, accelerating up to 140km/h in a 110km/zone and performed two screeching U-turns and cut across the grass median strip.

When he tried to perform a third U-turn, he narrowly missed colliding with an Essential Energy truck, hitting a sign instead. After driving on to a gravel road and back to the highway, police facts show Sheaffe’s car had a flat tyre and an oil leak.

Mason Sheaffe faced sentencing on Monday at Goulburn Local Court. Picture: Niki Iliagoueva

He drove back to the truck, got out of his car and ran towards it, but police blocked him, facts state and he was arrested.

A search of the car uncovered stolen number plates and three hunting knives.

While he was in custody, after displaying flu-like symptoms, he was taken to Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, where he tested positive for Covid.

Magistrate Michael O’Brien was visibly appalled by the chain of events, likening the amount of offences incurred to “watching a Hollywood movie.”

“You’ve made some pretty dreadful decisions which has resulted in the ultimate loss of freedom,” Magistrate O’Brien said.

“What happened to all those opportunities of an apprenticeship? they fizzled,” Mr O’Brien said.

The incident also occurred just two months after he was on bail for driving off with a cop’s arm trapped in his car window, after he was caught drink driving on Market St, Wollongong, on July 27, which he pleaded guilty to.

Sheaffe’s lawyer Sam Lynch, from the Aboriginal Legal Service, said this was his first time in custody, having limited criminal history, and regarded the events as “extraordinary errors of judgement.”

He said Sheaffe’s time in custody on remand for more than two months had been “incredibly hard on him.”

When explaining Sheaffe’s reason for running away from police, Lynch said: “His explanation is one of panic – he did not want to get locked up with his first child on the way in May. He also has an inability to trust authority figures, and can now see the stupidity and danger of running from authority.”

Magistrate O’Brien said: “(You) have failed to reached milestones and now (have) to embark on the greatest challenge of all, raising a child. You put others at risk. Which makes me wonder what kind of role model (you) will be.”

Sheaffe, who was visibly tearful said: “I was worried about my career, my partner, my life, I was nervous. I did the wrong thing.”

Sheaffe was sentenced to four months in jail backdated from September 29, and will be released on parole for 12 months on January 28.