Police pursuit through Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs finishes with jail sentence

A MAN on ice who drove head-on into oncoming traffic in an attempt to escape police after an aggravated burglary will be behind bars until at least April 2020.

A MAN on ice who drove head-on into oncoming traffic in an attempt to escape police after an aggravated burglary will be behind bars until at least April 2020.

Jamie Lee Bennett endangered the lives of himself, a passenger, other road users and police officers during an hours-long rampage through Melbourne’s south east, including parts of Monash, in April last year.

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He pleaded guilty to a raft of charges including aggravated burglary, reckless conduct endangering life, common assault and theft.

Bennett, who grew up in Dandenong, was disturbed while stealing from an Aberdeen Court house in Narre Warren on April 21, 2017, punching a resident and cutting him with a knife found in the kitchen.

After police were called, he led officers on a car chase, switching seats with his friend Rachel Reiger to take over driving during the pursuit.

Sideswiping a sedan while driving on the wrong side of the road, he was followed into Dandenong, where he drove around two boom gates which were down at railway crossings, forcing a train to stop to avoid a collision.

Turning onto the Dandenong Bypass, Bennett drove down the emergency lane on the wrong side of the road, weaving through oncoming traffic for 1.5km before reaching Warrigal Rd.

Boxed in on a dead-end street, Orange St in Bentleigh East, Bennett collided with a police car to get back onto Warrigal Rd, before travelling through Oakleigh South at about 150km/h.

Bennett’s chaotic driving ended in Cheltenham but not before causing $14,000 damage to an unmarked police sedan.

Police were forced to use pepper spray to subdue him after he fled from the car. Ice was later found in his blood system.

He had also forced two police officers to jump out of the way to avoid being struck when escaping from them in a Doveton hotel carpark four days earlier.

The court heard Bennett had 76 convictions from seven previous court appearances and had previously spent almost five-and-a-half years in prison.

County Court Judge Christopher Ryan said Bennett’s offending was “appalling” and he considered his prospects for rehabilitation as “bleak” unless he rid himself of drugs.

“I must punish you and deter you and others from committing these crimes or crimes of a similar kind,” he said.

“I must look to the protection of the community.”

He was sentenced to five years and five months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years.