Dandenong Magistrates Court: David Rowntree, Natalie Pappas, Gerard Sweeny, dodgy drivers in court this week
From smashing into parked cars and speeding off to driving while high on meth these are the dodgy drivers to face court this week in Dandenong.
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From smashing into parked cars and speeding off to driving while high on meth these are the dodgy drivers to face court this week in Dandenong.
David Rowntree
A man who thought he had outsmarted the law has been told not to try it again after he drove off from the scene of a serious collision.
David Rowntree appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to multiple driving charges including leaving the scene of a collision.
Rowntree was driving at high speeds through Berwick on March 11 this year when he collided with a fence.
Rowntree didn’t stop and sped from the scene before hitting a gutter down the road which caused him to lose control and collide with a parked car, pushing it into a tree.
The collision caused the front bumper of Rowntree’s car to come off, which was left at the scene complete with the licence plate.
The court heard Rowntree didn’t hand himself into the Berwick police station until three hours after the collision which Magistrate Tony Burns said “wasn’t a surprise” as it was outside the window where one must submit to a breath test.
“When you don’t go until after three hours later everyone knows it is because you were too drunk to go earlier,” he said.
“You think you’ve outsmarted us there.”
Rowntree was also facing charges over driving matters from 2022.
In January 2022 he lost his temper at a truck driver after driving erratically around him.
When they both stopped at a petrol station in Berwick Rowntree got out of his car and began throwing punches at the truck driver.
When he was unsuccessful in punching the driver he turned his anger towards the trucks side mirror, which he punched and broke off.
In March 2022 Rowntree was also busted driving through a red light in Donvale on Springvale Rd.
The court heard Rowntree has previously spent 10 years in prison after being sentenced by the County Court in 2011.
He now works with a rail company after he has begun to “get his life together” after witnessing the shooting death of his friend in 2019.
Rowntree was convicted and fined $1500 and will lose his licence due to an accumulation of demerit points for 12 months.
Natalie Pappas
A woman has been put off the road for 12 months after pleading guilty to driving with drugs in her system.
Natalie Pappas, 32, appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where she pleaded guilty to a charge of failing an oral fluid test.
Pappas was driving along the Princes Hwy on May 15 2022 when she was stopped by police.
Pappas took a drug test which came back positive for meth.
The court heard Pappas had now been clean from drug use for 12 months and was focusing on being a mother to her six-year-old son.
She copped a $500 fine for her offending.
Gerard Sweeny
A 19-year-old was lucky not to lose his licence after rear ending another car and failing to stop.
Cockatoo man Gerard Sweeny faced Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving and a charge of failing to provide his details to the victim of the collision.
On December 11 2022 Sweeny was driving along Belgrave-Emerald Rd in Emerald when he collided with the back of a turning car.
Instead of stopping to assist Sweeny continued driving and police had to attend his address to ask him about the collision.
The court heard Sweeny didn’t stop because he didn’t think he would’ve caused any damage and he claimed the car in front of him had indicated late.
The court heard he told police “it was as much their fault as mine”.
The collision caused about $2000 worth of damage to the victims car.
When Magistrate Tony Burns asked Sweeny why he did what he did he told the court he panicked and admitted he may have been affected by alcohol.
Sweeny escaped conviction but was slapped with a $750 fine.
