Passenger in stolen car involved in serious crash cops jail

A TOOWOOMBA man who was a passenger in a stolen car that was involved in a serious crash on the Warrego Highway has been jailed.

The man appeared by video link from the prison to plead guilty in court.

A 22-YEAR-OLD man involved in an horrific crash in a stolen car which left the driver of another vehicle seriously injured has been jailed.

Lachlan Mark Freund had been a passenger in the stolen Holden Commodore which ran into a police operation on the Warrego Highway about 2pm on November 18, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Doing a U-turn, the car drove into oncoming traffic, police prosecutor Nikola Prince said.

A short time later, the car crossed the median strip and became airborne before crashing into a vehicle, leaving the driver of that vehicle trapped with a steel rod through his leg.

Freund and the driver ran off but were soon caught.

The car was found to have been stolen from Gowrie Mountain earlier in November, Ms Prince said.

Freund appeared in custody to plead guilty to charges arising from that incident as well as to charges arising from him being found on October 23 with 19 capsules of MDMA (ecstasy), Viagra and $6600 cash which he told police he had won on the pokies but couldn't verify.

His solicitor Amber Acreman said her client had been a self-employed carpenter by age 18 before he had been introduced to drugs which put him on a downward spiral.

He had the potential to resurrect his life, she submitted.

Magistrate Robbie Davies declared the 81 days Freund had spent in custody as time served and sentenced him to nine months in jail, to be released on parole on February 17, and placed him on two years probation.

Originally published as Passenger in stolen car involved in serious crash cops jail