Southwest speedster can’t explain why he evaded cops 3 times

A sober man who crashed his truck and evaded police at dangerously high speeds through the Maranoa and Central Highlands has been thrown in jail.

Aaron Scott Walsh

A speed demon who roared through the Maranoa and Central Highlands at incredibly dangerous speeds has reached his destination of a prison cell.

Boilermaker and former truckie Aaron Scott Walsh, who was 25 years old at the time, sped up to 171km/h while evading police while on a suspended sentence.

He was involved in a truck crash while driving disqualified on June 27, 2019 and although the police didn't investigate, he was caught out by the insurance company, the Roma Magistrates Court heard on February 4, 2021.

Walsh then drove a ute 20km/h over the limit on the Carnarvon Hwy near Injune but sped up to 170km/h when police tried to intercept him at 8.43am on June 27, 2019, police prosecutor sergeant Heather Whiting told the court.

Then his truck was found driving near Injune around midday the same day, but Walsh failed to give a statutory declaration to who was driving the vehicle.

A few months later, he was found doing 170km/h on the Dawson Hwy towards Springsure on a 110km/h zone at 5am on October 25, 2019.

Police tried to chase him but called off the pursuit because it was too dangerous.

Just over an hour later at 6.14am, Walsh was found driving a Commodore southbound through Injune at 130km/h with the wrong rego plates on.

Sergeant Whiting said Walsh has had drug driving charges in the past.

"Obviously this conduct is denounced by the community," she said.

She said Walsh's pleas of guilty weren't early and he showed no cooperation with authorities.

Solicitor Leslee Reed told the court Walsh has had a 'fairly good' record until that incident.

"He can't explain to me the reasons why... he behaved the way he did," Ms Reed said.

"There's no drugs or alcohol involved."

Magistrate Peter Saggers said Walsh was fortunate nothing more serious happened and he's lucky that he wasn't charged with dangerous driving.

"These are serious examples of offences where police made the decision not to chase you," Magistrate Saggers said.

"The reason for these strict penalties is that police have made a decision to not continue in chases that could be dangerous.

"But that doesn't give free reign for offenders to think 'that's cool, so long as I outrun the police then I don't get caught'.

"At those speeds, you put everyone at risk."

Walsh pleaded guilty at an earlier court date on January 19 to twelve offences: four counts of disqualified driving, three evasion offences, two counts of speeding, failing to provide a statutory declaration, driving with false number plates, and not having proper control of a vehicle.

He was locked up for 50 days and will have the balance of the six month sentence suspended for two years.

Walsh was also fined $1000 and disqualified for two years with all of his incidents recorded on his criminal history.

Originally published as Southwest speedster can’t explain why he evaded cops 3 times