Mongols bikie gang prospect Adam Stevens guilty of speeding due to ‘problem with airconditioner’

A wannabe bikie caught speeding on the Stuart Highway was ‘probably pretty close to taking off’, his lawyer said. Read about his ‘creative excuse’ for why he did it.

Adam Stevens outside the Darwin Local Court after pleading guilty to speeding at 167km/h in a 100km/h zone. Picture: Jason Walls

A wannabe Darwin bikie busted driving so fast in someone else’s luxury hatchback he was “probably pretty close to taking off” was speeding because he was “intrigued” by a problem with his air conditioner, a court has heard.

Adam Lance Stevens, 33, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to driving the Audi A3 at 167km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Stuart Highway in Coolalinga on February 8.

Prosecutor Kate Nichols told the court attending police told the “prospect member of the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang” he would receive an infringement notice, but later checks revealed he was on bail at the time and had prior convictions for speeding.

Two days later, officers tracked Stevens down in Virginia where they searched his car after he admitted to using cannabis the night before and seized his mobile phone.

“Analysis of the mobile phone revealed it contained a video of himself speeding in the same vehicle, (and) at the time of his arrest, the defendant removed a concealed folding knife from the right side of his shorts and dropped it on the ground,” she said.

“The defendant claimed it was for cutting seatbelts, which police believed was not a valid excuse as OMCG members are known to carry concealed weapons.”

In arguing for the court to impose a fine, Stevens’ lawyer Matt Hubber said his client was “a general automobile enthusiast”, and was at work as a mechanic at the time he was caught speeding.

“Well you see, the thing is, your honour, he was driving fast because he had a problem with his airconditioner,” he said.

An Audi A3 hatchback similar to the one Stevens was driving when he was clocked at 67km/h over the speed limit.

When judge Therese Austin suggested Stevens could have wound the windows down instead, Mr Hubber said he agreed “but the windows were (also) broken”.

“He said when the car revved through the high-range the airconditioner would intermittently come on and then off which intrigued him,” he said.

When Ms Austin countered that that was a “very creative excuse”, Mr Hubber said “it was spontaneously offered to the police there, in fairness” and “not a figment of my imagination, I can assure you”.

Mr Hubber said the offending occurred on a “very straight” section of the highway “alongside an old airfield from World War II”, to which Ms Austin suggested that “if he was on the runway he could have taken off”.

“He was probably pretty close to taking off,” Mr Hubber responded.

In handing Stevens an $800 fine and banning him from the road for six months, Ms Austin his “hooning” behaviour “has just got to stop”.

“You do not want to attract attention from the police for driving fast cars,” she said.

“It’s so dangerous, 167km/h on a stretch of road that other people use is so dangerous, and so unacceptable.”