Man sentenced for dangerous driving

Monday 30 November 2020

A young man was told to change his ways before he ends up killing someone, after he was sentenced for overtaking a car around a bend while travelling at 52mph.

Joe Wilson, 20, was sentenced for driving dangerously along Portinfer Road shortly before 21:00 on 20 September.

Police were carrying out checks out of sight from the main road when they saw three vehicles drive past, followed by a Ford Fiesta, driven by Wilson, which was clocked at 52mph as he overtook the first vehicle and then started overtaking the second on the bend, going into the other side of the road in the process. 

Officers stopped Wilson shortly afterwards and were told: "I can't explain what that was about."

Despite his young age, the Court was told that Wilson already had two convictions for speeding on his record. Defence Advocate Phoebe Cobb asked the Court to consider her client's young age, although she acknowledged that his court appearance back in April for driving 60mph in a 25mph zone was an aggravating factor.

"At the time it was dark and he felt he could not see any headlights in the opposite direction," said Advocate Cobb of the incident. 

"Fortunately, there was no accidents caused as a result of his driving and nobody was caused any harm."

Pictured: Wilson has been disqualified from driving for 10 months. 

She said Wilson's behaviour on the roads was far removed from how he lives the rest of his life: "He generally lives a pro-social lifestyle and he is not a prolific offender by any stretch of the imagination."

Judge Graeme McKerrell expressed concerns that Wilson did not appear to have learnt from those previous offences.

While the Probation report suggested that Wilson had a low likelihood of re-offending, Judge McKerrell said that for someone so young, the number and nature of his offences had given him pause for thought. 

He told Wilson that he needs to address what happens when he gets behind the wheel. 

"You need to do so quickly because if you continue how you are, you are going to end up killing someone."

Judge McKerrell said the offence was too serious to be dealt with by a fine, but not serious enough to warrant a custodial sentence. Wilson was sentenced to 60 hours of community service and disqualified from driving for 10 months.