Simon Cummins: Iced-up driver given bail week before bad smash
An ice-head “bounced his car off a tree” then tried to play hide and seek with the dog squad, but was sniffed out hiding in a bush.
South East
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A drugged-up road menace who crashed his car while high on ice had been given bail just seven days before, a court has heard.
Simon Kane Cummins smashed his Magna into a tree after hitting a parked car and ran off, only to be nabbed by the police canine unit hiding in some bushes nearby.
In his rush to get away the forgetful felon left behind an ice pipe, digital scales and ID in his own name in his car, which didn’t have any plates fitted.
And then in the back of the divvy van he dropped a bag of ice, but was unable to pick it up because he was handcuffed.
He refused to be interviewed by police because he “had a pain in his back”, so was taken to hospital where he registered a positive blood sample for ice.
Just a week prior he did a petrol drive-off in a car with stolen plates and was arrested and bailed.
The homeless 41-year-old also stole a purse from a medical centre and used the stolen credit cards to buy cigarettes, food and booze.
He was also on a community corrections order for similar offending, of which he did very little treatment and hardly any of the unpaid work.
Cummins pleaded guilty to driving, theft and bail breach charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The court heard a passing police patrol noticed him fiddling with the number plates of a Magna in an emergency bay on Peninsula Link in Baxter on September 4, 2019.
They watched as he drove off and pulled into a servo, stealing $100 of fuel and speeding away.
He was intercepted, arrested and bailed.
But just seven days later Cummins again came unstuck.
He was driving the same Magna in Knoxfield at around midnight when his car ricocheted off a parked vehicle and bounced into a tree.
He got out the wrecked car, ran off but had been seen by a witness who had called police.
The canine unit arrived and sniffed Cummins out as he tried to hide under a bush.
His defence lawyer said her client “did not deny he has struggled with drugs” and had been an especially heavy user for the past couple of years.
She said homelessness was an issue for him, and despite an extensive history of drugs and driving crimes, he would benefit from another corrections order.
Magistrate Fiona Stewart said she would consider an order, but told him that doesn’t mean he will be walking from jail any time soon.
So far Cummins has spent 63 days on remand.
“You should be under no illusions you will be released (on the next court date),” Ms Stewart said.
“Some of these offences were committed while on a CCO, and on bail.
“That was an opportunity you squandered, you may well have to serve more time.”
Cummins was remanded in custody and will face court again on May 27.
