Sydney dragracer banned from driving for two years after horror smash
A CONVICTED dragracer will have to say goodbye to his beloved wheels for two years after a horror smash in Sydney’s southwest left a man seriously injured earlier this year.
Liverpool
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A CONVICTED dragracer will have to say goodbye to his beloved wheels for two years after a horror smash in Sydney’s southwest left a man seriously injured earlier this year.
Toongabbie man Jayden Glass, 22, was admiring Foad Hellou’s Mazda RX-7 while they were both stopped at the lights on Cowpasture Rd in Carnes Hill on March 11.
Glass’ solicitor alleged Mr Hellou said “watch this” before the two cars raced off when the lights turned green.
Disaster struck just 130m later when the RX-7 lost control, swerved into the left hand lane at Carnes Hill Shopping Centre and struck a tree before flipping onto its side.
Police said Glass did not stop at the scene, where Mr Hellou was trapped in his car, but returned two hours later where he was arrested.
However, Glass’ solicitor said his client had in fact turned around, parked on the other side of the road and used a fire extinguisher to assist as best he could.
Magistrate Peter Thompson found Glass guilty of organising, promoting or taking part in a race between vehicles when the man appeared at Liverpool Local Court on Wednesday (June 13).
Glass was fined $3000 and disqualified from driving for two years.
“I’ve got no doubt you are contrite and sorry for what occurred,” Magistrate Thompson said.
“However, this course of driving is outright dangerous and I have no doubt you knew you were breaking the law.”
Glass had served two three-month driving suspensions when he was a red P-plater and a green P-plater due to speeding offences.
His solicitor said Glass now travels up to two hours each way daily on public transport to complete his International Studies degree at Macquarie University and maintain his employment as a customer support consultant at Commonwealth Bank.
The former Westfield Sports High School student is also forced to use public transport to commute between his Toongabbie home and his girlfriend’s Prestons residence.
“I’ve no doubt your parents brought you up in the best manner they could and apart from this you seem to be an outstanding man,” Magistrate Thompson said.
“But you’ve been driving a short number of years and you’ve been suspended twice for deliberate courses of driving related to speed.”
A further charge of dangerous driving was dropped, though Magistrate Thompson said he would have been inclined to give Glass community service if the charge had been upheld.
Prosecutors in court were unable to confirm whether Mr Hellou had also been charged in relation to the crash in March.