A man spent two weeks in hospital and then two months in a rehabilitation centre after a car accident where his vehicle hit a power pole in Shepparton, a court has heard.
Justin Castle, 29, from Tatura, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to careless driving and drug driving.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Anna Hanlon told the court police were called to a single vehicle collision on the corner of Ford Rd and the Goulburn Valley Hwy in Shepparton at 12.20am on June 29 last year.
The Holden Commodore, driven by Castle, had collided with a power pole and trees.
Castle was on the ground nearby.
He told police he had been dropping a friend home and had “lost traction when applying the brakes”, Leading Sen Constable Hanlon said.
Castle told the court he spent two weeks in the Royal Melbourne Hospital after the crash, followed by another two months in Epworth Rehabilitation.
Castle’s solicitor Bree Zito said her client suffered quite significant injuries in the crash.
These included three broken ribs, three breaks to the pelvis, a lacerated liver, broken arm and dislocated nose.
Ms Zito said castle had post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the accident and had not driven a car since, as he was too scared to.
She also said prior to the accident he had used methamphetamines “on an infrequent basis”, but was no longer using.
Ms Zito asked for Castle to be sentenced to an adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour; however, magistrate Ian Watkins said the matter was too serious for that.
“It was a pretty serious accident,” he said.
He fined Castle $800 and ordered him to pay $131.50 in court costs.
Castle’s licence was also cancelled and he was disqualified from driving for six months.
“A lot of the punishment … has been inflicted on you from the injuries you sustained,” Mr Watkins said to Castle.
“You came close to having police knocking at your children’s door and saying their dad’s not coming home.”