Don’t jail me

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
Jamie Alex Tabone pleaded guilty to drink-driving, dangerous driving, reckless conduct endangering life, two charges of evading police and three charges of driving while disqualified.
Defence lawyer Richard Davis said he was initially “gobsmacked” by his client’s “irrational behaviour”, but said it was caused by a previously-undiagnosed brain injury received when the young man crashed a car into a tree four years ago.
Ringwood Magistrates’ Court heard on the first occasion Tabone was clocked in his high performance car driving up to 230km/h at night along the Melba Highway last December.
The court was told at one stage Tabone drove without headlights and overtook vehicles across double-white lines with oncoming traffic.
He smashed and abandoned the car in Yarra Glen, where police impounded it.
Two weeks later Tabone smashed another car in Warragul when trying to evade police at speeds of 140km/h just after midnight – he ran and was found hiding behind some trees.
Magistrate Tony Parsons heard last Thursday (12 August) the defendant had already lost his licence for numerous driving offences, including two previous police chases.
The third charge of driving while disqualified occurred when Tabone was stopped along the Burwood Highway in Ferntree Gully on April 21.
Mr Davis told the court his client’s decision-making ability was non-existent from injuries sustained from the 2006 crash.
He said his client would benefit from a drug used to control epilepsy that would stop his “aggressive behaviour”.
Mr Davis suggested rather than a jail sentence for Tabone, an intensive corrections order and medical treatment would “help get him on the straight and narrow”.
“He’s a peril on the road,” Mr Davis said. “It’s irrational behaviour that defies logic.”
The case will continue this Thursday.