By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A highly-agitated driver, possibly suffering psychosis, rammed a police car during a hair-raising drive from Dandenong to the Mornington Peninsula.
Lisa Gergis, formerly of Noble Park, pleaded guilty at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court to an array of driving charges arising from the erratic, high-speed drive on 12 November.
The court heard that Gergis’s rapidly-approaching car struck a Honda hatchback from behind on Dandenong Bypass, causing the Honda to crash into the gutter about 5.30pm.
She turned south on EastLink, reportedly speeding at 171.5 km/h, prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Gary van der Poel told the court.
A Peninsula Link speed camera soon afterwards recorded Gergis’s car at 159 km/h.
Drivers reported the car being driven erratically further south on the tollway, with the front bumper hanging loose.
A motorist pulled his car off the road to avoid Gergis’s vehicle, another watched the car weaving in and out of traffic at speed.
An hour into the drive, Gergis’s car collided with the front of a police Ford Territory in Cape Schanck.
She drove around the police vehicle, overtaking other motorists at high speed on Boneo Road.
Police terminated their pursuit due to safety concerns, LSC van der Poel said.
At 6.49pm, police brought Gergis’s car to a halt using stop sticks.
Gergis was taken to Frankston Hospital with minor injuries, the court heard.
In a police interview, Gergis said she had fled home scared and was not in a good mental state at the time.
Diagnosed with bipolar depression and schizophrenia, Gergis couldn’t remember crashing with a police car or how her car’s front bumper became dislodged.
Gergis was also charged with making a false report to triple zero that her house had been trashed and ransacked on 29 November.
She told the emergency operator she was then going to hand in a gun to Clayton Police Station.
Police were then dispatched to the station, which was closed at the time but Gergis didn’t arrive there.
Gergis’s lawyer said the accused was likely to have been suffering a “level of psychosis” during the drive.
The accused was in an unstable mental state during the offences due to a dangerous situation at home, the court was told.
“While the report (to triple zero) was not correct, there were people residing in her home who shouldn’t have been there and there were concerns for Ms Gergis’s safety as a result,” the lawyer said.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen noted Gergis now had “unbelievable” health and community supports that greatly reduced her risk of re-offending.
“I can tell from the prior convictions that last year you were not engaging with Monash Health or the medication.
“Then you become an unpredictable person.
“With such a serious diagnosis, you don’t help yourself or anyone else by using drugs.”
Gergis was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month supervised, treatment-only community corrections order, due to the seriousness of the offending.
She was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
