Joel Hurst pleads guilty to series of charges including unlicensed driving
A Gippsland man caught driving without a Victorian licence told police he hadn’t had one for 14 years because he visited WA. But that turned out to be the least of his problems.
Bass Coast News
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A Gippsland man who was busted driving unlicensed on several occasions said he hadn’t had a Victorian licence for 14 years because he “went over to WA”.
Joel Hurst, 36, pleaded guilty in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court to a series of charges including unlicensed driving, driving under the influence of drugs and possessing a drug of dependence namely cannabis.
The court heard police pulled Hurst over when he was driving on Main South Rd in Drouin on November 17, 2018.
Police asked Hurst to produce his licence but he didn’t have it on him and his previous licence had expired in 2008.
When an oral fluid test indicated he had taken methylamphetamine, Hurst told police he had taken ice a couple of days ago at the beach, but hadn’t been driving that day.
The court heard when police pulled Hurst again on May 23, 2020 on Rollo St, Yarragon, he said he “hadn’t had a Victorian licence for years – 14 years or something because I went over to WA”.
On April 20, 2020, police went to his property with a search warrant and Hurst told them where they would find a box containing cannabis and some shotgun shells.
Hurst told police the ammunition was left over from when he went shooting with his brother.
Hurst’s lawyer James Livy said it “wasn’t high grade cannabis” and he made “full admissions in terms of its location on the property”.
“There was no intent to cover it up,” Mr Livy said.
“Apart from sending you to jail, I don’t have any other sentences that are appropriate to reflect your criminal offending other than a community corrections order,” Magistrate Jacinta Studham said.
“If I place you on this CCO and you don’t do it or breach it, it is highly, highly likely you will receive an immediate term of imprisonment,” she said.
Hurst was placed on a community corrections order for a period of 12 months.
The case was adjourned until November 16 for judicial monitoring.
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