Esko Auda faces Mackay court for dangerous operation, police evasion

A car driving 100km/hr on the Bruce Highway had to take evasive action to avoid hitting a criminal who was on the run after crashing into police in North Queensland.

Ekso Auda faced Mackay Magistrates Court on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

A car driving 100km/hr on the highway had to take evasive action to avoid hitting a man on the run after crashing into police in North Queensland.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard Esko Auda crashed his ute into the officers’ car at Bloomsbury, between Mackay and Proserpine, on January 19.

Police prosecutor Leonie Taufa’ao said Auda took off before being spotted at a Bowen service station, about 50km north.

Ms Taufa’ao said the officer parked behind Auda’s ute and activated lights and sirens.

“(Auda) has then accelerated heavily away … spinning the tyres and then nearly colliding with another vehicle,” she said, adding the motorist who was travelling 100km/hr had to take evasive action to avoid Auda who did a burnout as he turned onto the Bruce Highway.

Auda did not have a driver’s licence at the time, and just two weeks before on January 2, CCTV footage captured him cutting through a lock with an angle grinder to steal a quad bike and industrial size pressure washer.

The court on Wednesday further heard the 22 year old was charged with possessing the anticonvulsant pregabalin, marijuana, a needle and syringe, dangerous operation of a vehicle, evading police, plus five counts of breaching bail conditions.

Acting Magistrate Stephen Byrne said the dangerous operation of a vehicle was at the “lower end of the range” compared to other cases before Ms Taufa’ao added Auda’s traffic history included speeding, drink and drug-driving, and licence disqualifications.

One of those disqualifications was from 2020 when Auda was sentenced for trying to cover up striking his brother-in-law with his car.

Solicitor Robyn Cathcart, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, said her client grew up in Bowen and was the youngest in a family of five brothers and 11 sisters, with his mother and aunt in court to support him.

Ms Cathcart said Auda acknowledged drugs led to his downfall and he was “very remorseful” for his “very poor choices”.

She said he agreed to get drug counselling upon his release from jail and was looking for a job with “good prospects of rehabilitation”.

Mr Byrne told Auda he could be assured further offending would steepen the penalties in future.

He sentenced Auda to six months jail with immediate parole, having declared 50 days as time already served, and disqualified his licence for two-and-a-half years.

Convictions were recorded.

Originally published as Esko Auda faces Mackay court for dangerous operation, police evasion