By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A MAN who rolled his vehicle in Clyde told a court he fled the scene and falsely reported the car was stolen because he was “scared” of the consequences.
A court was told Russell Swann, of Pakenham, had crashed his white Subaru while approaching a T-intersection on a gravel section of Ballarto Road about 6.30pm on 18 October.
A witness stated Swann told him not to call “the cops” as he had been charged thrice for drink-driving.
“I’ll tell them it was stolen,” the witness was told.
Swann walked to his home as his car lay on its side, and reported the ‘theft’ – complete with baby car seats, tools and a wallet containing $120 – to Pakenham police the next morning.
On 27 October, Swann admitted to police his report was false, and that he’d crashed the car while travelling “a bit fast”.
Pleading guilty to the false-report charge, Swann told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday he was being treated for depression.
At the time of the crash, he was facing a pending intervention-order breach, his marriage had broken up and he was “not seeing the kids, he said.
“I was scared (what would happen) after the crash.”
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen fined Swann $800 and ordered him to compensate police $850 for wasting their time.
“These cases are serious because police are not diverting their resources to genuine police work.”
Mr Vandersteen didn’t suspend Swann’s licence given the accused’s “personal circumstances” and his need of his car for work.
“You need to engage with mental health services as best you can.
“There’s a tendency when things fall apart … you can make more and more mistakes.”
