Jake Connolly-Moore: Dandenong driver pleads guilty, gets stern jail warning
A hoon, who has never held a licence, has been nabbed again – this time giving police an interesting excuse.
South East
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A couldn’t-care-less crook with a shocking criminal history has been warned further bad behaviour could land him behind bars.
Jake Dawson Connolly-Moore, who has pages of priors and three community corrections orders, was advised to stop his “totally unacceptable” behaviour or he would end up in jail.
Connolly-Moore pleaded guilty to unlicensed driving, unregistered car and court order breach charges at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The court heard in April last year, Connolly-Moore was pulled over by police in Clayton for a routine check.
Officers couldn’t believe it when they checked their database and saw the car hadn’t been registered since 2009.
When police questioned Connolly-Moore about his driver’s licence he said he’d never held one and was “just going to pick up a mate and get some food”.
The 22-year-old from Dandenong had priors mainly involving drugs and driving crimes, but he also has a reckless cause injury offence on his record.
Connolly-Moore’s defence lawyer said the man was still young and, since those offences a year ago, had found “stability” in his life.
She said he no longer used illicit substances and had gone to a doctor to seek medical support for his mental issues dealing with a traumatic childhood.
She said her client, who had been a mechanic’s apprentice but now worked part-time for Kmart, still has no licence.
Magistrate Brian Clifford said it appeared Connolly-Moore has displayed much better behaviour in recent times.
“You have a very bad driving record at such a young age, you have ... prior convictions at the age of 21,” Mr Clifford said.
“It seems you have not been committing offences over the last 12 months, hopefully you have learnt your lesson.
“This is your last opportunity to keep your life stable, if you commit any offence there is a very strong chance of you going to jail.”
Connolly-Moore was convicted and fined a total of $1500.
