Craig Purcell pleads guilty in Mildura court to unlicensed driving and speeding at 141km/h

A Colignan man who caused an accident while driving unlicensed was caught doing 141km/h just two months prior.

Craig Purcell pleaded guilty in Mildura Court to unlicensed driving and speeding more than 40 km/h over the limit.

A Colignan man caught speeding at 141km/h while unlicensed has told a court he “didn’t know” he was disqualified.

Craig Purcell pleaded guilty in Mildura Magistrates’ Court on November 23 to two charges of driving while disqualified and one charge of speeding more than 40km/h over the speed limit.

The court heard Purcell was busted going 141km/h in a 100km/h zone by patrolling officers on August 15, when they saw him driving on Brown Rd in Colignan.

The court heard officers discovered Purcell’s motorbike licence had been cancelled in April as he had not completed a court ordered behavioural change program.

Purcell’s motorbike was impounded at the scene.

The court heard Purcell was caught driving unlicensed again when he was involved in a collision in October.

Police were called to a crash on October 11 where Purcell had collided with a silver Toyota on Morpung Ave.

Purcell’s Harley Davidson was again impounded.

When he was asked why he was driving unlicensed, Purcell told police he “didn’t know” he was disqualified.

In court on Thursday Purcell told Magistrate Michael McNamara he’d tried to do the previous court ordered program.

“I went three times to the community centre where it’s meant to happen but nobody was there,” he said.

“Without a licence or a vehicle it’s extremely difficult to get to town from where I live.”

Purcell told the court he had walked the 50km distance between Mildura and his home a few times due to lack of available public transport or a lift.

Mr McNamara took into account the financial and geographical challenges faced by Purcell in his sentence.

Purcell was ordered to be of good behaviour for the next 12 months and his licence will remain cancelled for the same amount of time.