Ice-addled menace Joshua Townley jailed for ‘frightening’ western suburbs road rampage
A former apprentice chippie’s life of crime started three years ago when he started smoking ice daily. Now he’s been jailed for a terrifying police chase in Melbourne’s west that ended when he was found hiding in an elderly couple's cupboard.
North West
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An ice-addled road menace who clipped a police officer and smashed into a van while speeding through the western suburbs on only three tyres has been jailed.
Joshua Townley, 23, was sentenced in the County Court on November 8 to a minimum 22 months after pleading guilty to several charges including recklessly exposing emergency workers.
Townley was on bail for multiple charges when his road rampage began in Footscray just after 7pm on December 19, 2018.
Police tried to immobilise Townley’s car in Footscray after they followed him off the Tullamarine Freeway.
Police pulled up to Townley while he was at traffic lights and placed a tyre deflation device under his car.
Townley hit the accelerator and reversed the car at “great speed”.
He almost collided with a police car but smashed into a van as he reversed over the device.
Townley then mounted the kerb and drove at a police officer who was forced to jump into oncoming traffic to avoid getting hit.
The desperado then clipped the officer’s car as he drove onto the opposite side of the road with only three inflated wheels and a loose bumper bar.
Townley ran three red lights, caused several motorists to swerve out of danger and almost had a collision as he was chased through West Footscray, Tottenham, and Sunshine West.
At one stage, while speeding through Tottenham, Townley slammed on the brakes causing the police car behind him to swerve and almost hit a power pole.
Townley then drove more than 500m along the Derrimut Trail before fleeing on foot.
He and a passenger kicked in the fence of a property and tried to enter the home but the occupant chased them off.
The pair jumped several fences before bursting into an elderly couple’s home.
The couple alerted police who found Townley hiding in a cupboard.
He was arrested but not drug tested or interviewed because of “safety concerns arising from (his) aggressive behaviour”.
Police searched his vehicle and recovered ammunition from the car.
The court heard Townley worked briefly as a painter and an apprentice carpenter but this “all came to an end” when he began using ice daily at age 20.
He has prior convictions for drugs, weapons and ammunition charges.
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Judge Rosemary Carlin said Townley exposed police and the public to “serious danger”.
“Your response was extreme and protracted,” she said.
“Your driving towards the police was inherently dangerous.”
Judge Carlin said she was uncertain if Townley had any genuine remorse.
“It’s not clear to me that you have truly appreciated how dangerous and frightening your driving was,” she said.
Townley, who also pleaded guilty to reckless conduct placing persons in danger, was sentenced to a maximum three years and two months’ prison.
He had spent 324 days in custody at the time of sentencing.