Lindsay Bennett: Coonamble dad sentenced for police pursuits

A man who was caught driving with a dog hanging off the back of his ute has begged for mercy in court despite triggering two police pursuits in six hours.

A Coonamble man has been allowed to walk free from jail after he spent Christmas behind bars because he led police on two pursuits while was disqualified from driving.

Lindsay Bennett said “it was just stupidity” when he appeared in court and was asked why he repeatedly took off from police on December 21.

Coonamble man Lindsay Bennett. Picture: Facebook/Lindsay Bennett

According to court documents, police spotted the 35-year-old driving at about 4.30pm on Tooloon Street with a dog hanging off the side of his Mitsubishi Triton.

When police turned on their sirens to get Bennett to stop, he led them on a 23 kilometre pursuit which ended on a dirt road after his vehicle started sliding across the road in rain.

Police said the dog managed to get back up onto the back of the ute during the pursuit, which was terminated by police for safety reasons and after Bennett reached speeds of more than 120km/h in a 100 zone.

Less than six hours after the initial pursuit, police spotted Bennett again on Castlereagh Street.

He led officers on a 15km pursuit, which again ended on a dirt road after police saw the ute sliding from the left to right side of the road and Bennett became stuck.

Dubbo Local Court. Picture: Jedd Manning

Police said Bennet had a passenger with him during the pursuit and he was disqualified from driving until February this year.

Bennett pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to stop for police during a pursuit and two counts of driving while disqualified.

Appearing in court from jail, where has been since he was refused bail after his arrest, Bennett begged for mercy.

“It’s the biggest wake-up call being in here I reckon,” he told Magistrate Gary Wilson.

“This is a place I never want to be in again.

“I’ll do anything that’s asked of me. Never been one for drugs, I only drink now and again.”

After taking into account Bennett’s time in jail, Magistrate Wilson convicted Bennett and sentenced him to a 10-month intensive corrections order, ordered 120 hours of community service be undertaken and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.

“You only had to wait another six weeks and you would have had your licence,” he told Bennett.

“Now it’s going to be another year.”