By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
AN APPRENTICE mechanic has pleaded guilty to hooning in front of police after driving up and down Princes Highway, Springvale, with 300 other vehicles for several hours early one morning.
Daniel Morgan intentionally lost traction for about 20 metres as he accelerated his vehicle from traffic lights at the corner of Corrigan Road and Princes Highway about 3am on 7 February, a court heard on 28 September.
The incident had created noise and smoke in front of about 20 other vehicles at the intersection.
Morgan was charged with dangerous driving, driving an unregistered vehicle, displaying false registration plates and not displaying P-plates at the time.
Morgan told police at the time that he didn’t know why he performed the burnout, police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Glenn Horman told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
“I f***ed up. It was spur of the moment.”
He claimed the false number plates were on the car when he bought it.
A month earlier, Morgan was charged with drug-driving after testing positive to methamphetamines.
His unregistered black Commodore ute, affixed with stolen number plates, was seen by police on Gladstone Road, Dandenong North, at the time.
In November police found a stolen number plate in Morgan’s then-home garage in Dandenong North.
Last year, Morgan was caught driving three times during a nine-month suspension.
Each time – in Pearcedale, Doveton and Narre Warren – he was driving the same unregistered car with different sets of false number plates.
On each occasion, he failed to produce a licence.
When he was intercepted in Doveton, a 50-centimetre iron bar was found within Morgan’s reach inside his car.
He told police at the time that he had the weapon for safety purposes, the court heard.
“There’s a lot of crazy people out there.”
Defence lawyer Adrian Dessi told the court that jail was a “real possibility” for Morgan but a community-based order could serve as punishment and rehabilitation for the accused’s ice issues.
He said since the offending, Morgan had moved out of the Dandenong area.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said it would have been no surprise if Morgan had killed someone.
Mr Vandersteen particularly noted the accused had been “running amok with ice in the system” and dropping a burnout as part of a group of 300 speeding vehicles.
He bailed Morgan to undergo a community corrections order assessment.
He indicated the order would comprise of unpaid community work, supervision, drug treatment and a road trauma awareness course.
Morgan was also facing the loss of his licence, Mr Vandersteen said.
