Raphael Van Aalst, 43, of Waterloo: Driver hit 140km/h in police pursuit to avoid RBT
A driver in a “drug psychosis” hit speeds of 140km/h to avoid a police RBT on Sydney’s north shore. See what happened in court.
Manly
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A Sydney driver who was suffering a “drug psychosis” crashed his car after trying to out run police at speeds of 140km/h when they tried to stop him for a random breath test.
Raphael Anatole Van Aalst, 43, was behind the wheel of a Subaru Forester at Northwood, on the lower north shore, when officers signalled him to stop about 12.15pm on February 16 last year.
But, according to documents tendered to Manly Local Court, Van Aalst refused the direction.
Instead, he accelerated away, leading police on a short high speed pursuit before his car collided with another vehicle at a set of traffic lights.
He then jumped from his smashed up Subaru and leapt into the nearby Lane Cove River in a desperate bid to avoid arrest.
Van Aalst, of Waterloo, was sentenced in Manly court on Thursday.
He had pleaded guilty to one count each of police pursuit (not stop) drive dangerously; fail to comply with signal to stop vehicle; not give particulars to other driver and; drive while under influence of drugs.
The DUI drug offence was withdrawn in court because police could not provide a record of the result of a blood drug analysis test taken soon after he was arrested.
But police stated in a facts sheet tendered to court that staff at Royal North Shore Hospital, where he was taken after the collision, were of the opinion that Van Aalst was in a “drug psychosis”.
Police stated in court papers that he refused to stop despite “knowing that police officers were in pursuit”.
“(He) then drove recklessly, at a speed dangerous and in a manner dangerous to others”.
The Subaru reached speeds of 120km/h in a 50 km/h zone on Bridge St, Willoughby and up to 140km/h in Penrose St and Burns Bay Rd.
The court also heard that four months later, on June 2, Van Aalst was stopped while driving a Volvo XC90, for a random breath test at midnight on Pittwater Rd at Mona Vale.
As a result of that stop he was charged with one count each of drive under the influence of methylamphetamine and drive while licence suspended. His licence had been suspended as a result of the police pursuit charges in February.
On Thursday his Legal Aid solicitor said Van Aalst had entered a lengthy drug rehabilitation program since his arrests and was being treated for anxiety and depression.
The solicitor said there appeared to be “drug induced psychosis” present in some of the offending.
Magistrate Robyn Denes sentenced Van Aalst to 18 months jail, but the time will served in the community under supervision of parole authorities, as an Intensive Correction Order.
He was disqualified from driving for two years.
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