Serial hoon led cops on chase, crashed with toddler inside car
He has spent most of the past 20 years in and out of jail and had only been out a couple of weeks when he again led police on a pursuit, this time crashing with a baby inside an overdue hire car.
South East
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A career crook who led cops on a wild chase in an overdue hire car with an 18-month baby on board faces a lengthy jail term.
Shaun Reardon has an “atrocious” rap sheet, spending most of his last two decades in and out of prison and had only been out a couple of weeks when he got involved in another police pursuit.
He drove on the wrong side of Prahran, South Yarra, Toorak and Malvern streets and down tram tracks at excessive speeds before he crashed into two stationary vehicles and fled on foot.
Reardon was soon caught by the chasing cops and was taken to hospital with slight injuries, while the baby and the other two adult passengers of the Toyota Kluger weren’t hurt.
At the time he was also unlicensed and had drugs and stolen cards in the car.
The 40-year-old of no fixed address pleaded guilty to driving and drugs charges at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard police in an unmarked car noticed the SUV driving erratically along Chapel St in Prahran at around 1.20pm on February 20.
They followed it at a safe distance but Reardon sped off, trying to lose the cops by racing down side streets.
He drove at speeds of up to 80km/h up and down around narrow streets, sometimes on the wrong side of the road.
He then drove along Toorak Rd before he smashed into two stationary cars at the Glenferrie Rd intersection in Malvern, badly damaging all three vehicles.
He ran but was soon caught, and he and the other two adults, one of them carrying the toddler, were arrested.
A search of the hire car — which should have been returned two days before — uncovered seven amphetamine pills, and driving licences and bank and Medicare cards in other peoples’ names.
Reardon refused to be interviewed and was remanded in custody.
His lawyer said he had only spent around one of the past 10 years out of jail as a free man, and was at risk of “becoming institutionalised”.
She said he had already served 130 days on remand and had been accepted for a bed at drug rehabilitation centre Odyssey House.
She said the only way to stop his cycle of offending, being released from jail and reoffending, was for him to do a comprehensive residential rehab program.
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Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said he was considering a jail sentence “of some duration”.
“Going through his history there are very relevant priors that look a lot like police pursuits,” Mr Rozencwajg said.
“There are obvious aggravating features (in this case), the baby is the really bad part of it, and it was 1.30pm in the afternoon and there were pedestrians around.
“We are dealing here with serious offending; at the heart of it is the risk to the community, he’s a danger to the community, a danger to himself.”
Reardon was remanded in custody and will return to court for further plea and sentence on September 28.