Rosebud ice-addled driver out on bail after police pursuit broke his friend’s back in drug-fuelled crash
He was out on bail after evading police on a high-speed Mornington Peninsula chase. But then an ice addict yet again got behind the wheel while high, and broke his friend’s back in a horror Rosebud smash.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
An ice-addled hoon who busted the back of his friend in a horrific late night crash has been jailed.
Zakary Michael Norton was out on bail over a police chase when he smashed his out-of-control unregistered car into a parked vehicle, fracturing his female passenger’s back, foot and elbow.
The 23-year-old drugged-up driver should have been confined to his home due to strict curfew conditions he was meant to be serving while awaiting court for the Peninsula pursuit.
But at Dromana Magistrates’ Court this morning Norton pleaded guilty to more than a dozen serious driving charges and court order breaches.
The court heard the repeat offender was on a corrections order, bail and a curfew when he got behind the wheel of a car with no plates or registration at around 4.40am on March 25 this year.
Just five minutes later while speeding along Waterfall Gully Rd in Rosebud he lost control, smashing into a parked car with such force that it hit a second vehicle which spun and ended up in a fence.
Police attended and found Norton helping his female passenger on the ground nearby.
Both were taken to hospital where he received treatment for a busted jaw and his blood tested positive to ice, while she had surgery on a fractured L2 vertebrae, foot and elbow.
The court heard she has now fully recovered from her injuries.
He was on bail and a strict curfew at the time over a terrifying March 2018 police pursuit where he drove at a police car and nearly ran down an officer before speeding off at 170km/h along Mornington Peninsula Freeway without lights, narrowly avoiding three other cars.
Police had to call off the pursuit because it was too dangerous and Norton was later caught and remanded.
The apprentice roof tiler spent less than two months in jail, and was then released on bail.
MORE CRIME: DRUNK THUG'S JAIL TERM SLASHED
DRUGGIE CAUGHT BRINGING ICE INTO COURT
Norton’s defence lawyer said he didn’t recollect much of the accident, except to say he was taking his ice-affected friend home because she wanted a lift.
He said he recognised he has a serious drug problem, wanted to get into a rehab centre later this month and was getting counselling for his anxiety.
Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge slammed Norton as an “egregious” offender with little or no regard for the law.
“In the first instance it was miraculous no-one was seriously injured; regrettably on the second (occasion) someone was injured, receiving a series of broken bones,” Mr Lethbridge said.
“He’s going to have to take responsibility for the harm he causes others, the harm he causes the community.”
Norton was jailed for six months and disqualified from driving for four years.