Rosebud unlicensed, speeding ice and cannabis drug driver is jailed, but walks free on appeal bail
An unlicensed Rosebud driver landed in hot water when the cops clocked him driving a car travelling at 100km/h in an 80km/h zone. The water boiled when police gave him a drug test.
South East
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An unlicensed, speeding double-drug driver who borrowed his mate’s car to visit his aunt has been jailed.
But within hours Benjamin Wells walked free on bail after appealing his sentence.
Last week Frankston Magistrates’ Court heard the Rosebud 36-year-old was driving along Bittern-Dromana Rd in Balnarring on December 7 last year.
He was seen travelling at 100km/h along the 80km/h stretch of the tree-lined, undivided road, and pulled over by police.
He tested negative for alcohol, but double positive to ice and cannabis.
Officers also discovered he didn’t have a valid licence, and the car, which belongs to a mate, was impounded on the spot.
When interviewed he gave police a “no-comment” response.
The court heard he has priors for drug driving, drink-driving and driving while suspended, some dating back over 10 years.
The man who loaned the car to Wells was in court to support him, saying he thought he was sober when he lent his vehicle to his friend to go and visit his relative.
Wells’ defence lawyer said since the incident his client, who works at a Dromana fish factory, had completed a four-month detox program and “done everything he could” to rectify his drug concerns.
He said he was going through the grief of losing his wife, and it would be unfairly penalising his young daughter if he was incarcerated.
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But magistrate Rodney Crisp said the self-help detox defence was a “cynical manoeuvre” that was too late to have any effect on his “thoughtless and callous” behaviour.
“You have chosen to drive while unlicensed, at speed, on a country road, after using toxic and dangerous substances,” Mr Crisp said.
“People’s lives are at stake, you are a grave risk to everyone’s safety.
“You could cause immeasurable harm in that scenario; it was just good luck it was avoided, it was police action that could have easily saved lives.”
Wells was jailed for two months, fined $500 and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
He appealed and was bailed to appear at the County Court at a later date.