Dad goes a bit postal, court hears

A WELL-KNOWN Darwin businessman was stopped by police while ferrying his 3-year-old daughter to daycare in a milk crate on the back of his postie bike, a court has heard

A police patrol spotted Matt Mulga riding along Gilruth Ave in Darwin with his three year old daughter in a milk crate tied to the rear rack. Picture: NT Police

LAWYERS will next week spend a second day locked in an “amazingly complex” debate over whether carrying a three-year-old child in a milk crate tied to the rack of a motorbike in peak hour traffic was “reckless”.

Judge John Neill yesterday set aside a second afternoon of hearings for Lola’s Pergola owner Matt Mulga, who was spotted by a police patrol ferrying his daughter to daycare on his red postie bike earlier this year.

Matt Mulga

Mulga, the owner of Cullen Bay bar Lola’s Pergola, pleaded guilty to two minor traffic charges stemming from the April 21 daycare run – one of which was thrown out for being improperly laid – but pleaded not guilty to two other charges, including the jailable offence of recklessly endangering serious harm.

Constable Andrew McLeod said he was “quite horrified and disgusted” when he spotted Mulga’s daughter in the milk crate.

Police video played in court shows Constable McLeod and his partner describing Mulga’s improvised set up.

“What is this s***?” one of the officers said.

“Oi that’s so dangerous. Maybe in Bali, we’re not in Bali.

“You can’t just put the little ones in a milk crate ...”

Mulga, who was wearing lairy leopard print shorts in the morning, apologised and said he did not know there was an age limit for kids to be riding as pillion passengers.

Matt Hubber, for Mulga, said police likely would have handed his client a simple traffic ticket if it was an adult, not a child, riding on the single seat bike. The case hinges on technicalities, including the legal definition of recklessness and whether there was a “substantial” rather than just a hypothetical risk Mulga’s daughter could have come to grief.

Mr Hubber said it was a clear day, and traffic was light on Mulga’s side of the road, heading out of town.

He conceeded photos showing Mulga’s daughter’s helmet with a loose chin strap “don’t look good” and could see Mulga found guilty on the other minor charge he is contesting.

Prosecutor Ian Rowbottam said there was a risk the girl could have climbed out of the crate without Mulga noticing.

“The risk in that the child comes out of the crate, or if there was a collision the crate itself becomes a weapon against the child’s body,” he said. “A child from four feet or so hitting bitumen at any speed, there must be a very real risk or serious harm.”

Mr Neill said Mulga seemed to have gone to “some effort” in making the “jerry-rigged contraption”, which was complete with a cushion.

Mulga, in an interview with police in the week after he was pulled over, said he was an experienced motorbike rider.

He said he had thrown out his daughter’s motorbike helmet in anger and would use the family car for daycare runs in the future.

“For some reason I put her on the back of my bike (instead of the car),” he said.

The hearing continues next Wednesday.