A Shepparton man who rammed a police car before leading police on a chase through the streets of Echuca has been sentenced to jail, but may only serve weeks on top of a sentence he is already serving.
Shiloh Weston, 22, pleaded guilty in the Koori Court section of the Shepparton County Court to two counts of theft, reckless conduct endangering a person, reckless conduct endangering life and drug possession.
He also pleaded guilty to a summary charge of drug driving.
Weston rammed an unmarked police ute when an officer blocked the stolen Nissan Navara ute he was driving into a driveway on Ogilvie Ave, Echuca, on December 3, 2022.
Police had gone to the house when a member of the public told police they saw a Kawasaki motorbike stolen from Echuca days earlier on the back of the ute there.
They later found the ute had been stolen from Tatura days earlier.
When police arrived, Weston drove the Navara forward to try to get around the unmarked police Toyota Kluger SUV.
When he was unsuccessful, he reversed the ute and rammed into the passenger door of the Kluger twice in an unsuccessful attempt to push it out of the way.
He then drove through a front fence at the property.
The court heard Weston drove around the wrong side of the roundabout on the corner of the Northern Hwy and Ogilvie Ave before driving along the road for several hundred metres, as seven other vehicles had to take evasive action to move out of his way.
Police Air Wing then tracked Weston until he pulled into a Montgomery St driveway and ran off before he was found hiding behind a shed.
When he was arrested, a small amount of methamphetamines was found in his wallet, and he tested positive for drug driving.
The court also heard Weston was on parole at the time, having been released from detention only about two weeks earlier after serving three years of a four-year sentence for manslaughter.
In sentencing Weston, Judge Michael Cahill said he accepted Weston did not know the unmarked SUV he rammed was a police vehicle and labelled the ramming at the “low end” of offences of this type.
However, he said Weston driving on the wrong side of the road towards other traffic was dangerous, but noted that he was not driving at an excessive speed and the other drivers had time to avoid the ute.
Judge Cahill said this driving was an “impulsive action” and that the seriousness of it was “below mid-range” for similar offences.
The judge also noted Weston had an intellectual disability, his IQ was in the bottom two per cent of the population, and that a clinical psychologist had assessed him as being unable to make choices between right and wrong that an average person would make.
Judge Cahill said Weston’s disadvantaged background, intellectual disability and relatively young age moderated his sentence.
Judge Cahill noted Weston had had two earlier parole releases but had been unsuccessful with both.
After the police car-ramming incident, his parole was revoked and he was sent to prison to finish his sentence, which ends on April 19.
“While you have a worrying history of offences, when you put your mind to it, you are a good worker,” Judge Cahill said.
“I am hopeful you can change your ways and become a role model.”
Weston was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, with the 425 days he has spent in pre-sentence detention counting as time already served.
Judge Cahill ruled Weston would be eligible for parole after one year and six months, which will take him through until the end of April — only slightly after his current sentence finishes.
“This will give you the opportunity for nine months on parole, which I think is important,” Judge Cahill said.