Corey Quinn at Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court after warrants issued
A court has heard a Heidelberg Heights man — who has a history or forgetting court dates — should get bail because he made a ‘no more going to jail’ resolution, and was willing to write his bail conditions on his front door. Police weren’t convinced.
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A man with a faulty memory so bad he missed six court hearing should get bail because he made a “no more going to jail” resolution, a court has heard.
Corey Quinn’s lawyer, Ms Roussos, said the father-of-two would write his next court date and his bail conditions on his front door if he was released from custody at Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, March 26.
The 26-year-old went before the court after turning himself in at Heidelberg police station the night earlier, with five warrants out for his arrest after he skipped court hearings for six outstanding charges.
The court heard police found Quinn allegedly riding a dirt bike on the road without a helmet about 50m from his Heidelberg Heights home on September 11 after neighbours reported him.
Police waited for him to return to his house, where they went to impound the unregistered bike.
But when the tow truck pulled up, the court heard, Quinn allegedly got on the bike and sped away from police.
Police then went onto his property and found a yellow motorcycle and a Yamaha motorcycle, both allegedly turned out to be stolen.
The court heard police also repeatedly caught Quinn driving unlicensed, in both a car and an unregistered van, and saw him doing several burnouts, on separate occasions last year.
Leading Senior Constable Lee-anne Meade said Quinn had failed to report weekly to police in line with his bail conditions in November and December, and said 43 warrants had been issued for his arrest since 2001.
The court heard he had 21 prior convictions for driving while disqualified, suspended or unlicensed, nine for driving dangerously, two for failing to stop a vehicle on police direction and two for refusing a breath test.
Ms Roussos told the court Quinn had taken a good look at himself after Christmas and made a “no more going to jail” resolution, selling his motorcycle.
She said he had got his court dates mixed up.
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The court heard Quinn was a self-employed handyman who lived with his partner and saw his children, who lived with their grandparents, as often as he could.
Leading Sen-Constable Meade told the court police were worried Quinn would continue to not appear and would keep offending.
“Everyone’s got iPhones these days, you can put a reminder in your diary,” she said.
But Magistrate Helen Murphy granted him bail with stricter conditions than before.
She said her decision was based on the fact he handed himself in, he had strong social support and he hadn’t been caught committing new offences in the past six months.
Ms Murphy also emphasised significant delays on the court system incurred by the COVID-19 outbreak might mean he would be incarcerated for longer than what he would be sentenced to for the matters.