By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 24-year-old driver in an unregistered V8 ute has sped down the wrong side of Princes Highway, Pakenham during a mid-afternoon police pursuit, a court has heard.
Dean Nathan Russo, a repeat offender of Pakenham, pleaded guilty to speeding away from police at a BP service station next to the Pakenham police station about 2.52pm on 31 March.
Despite police activating their lights, Russo’s red Holden ute “lost traction” at the servo and drove up to 104 km/h west along the highway.
He crossed over to the wrong side of the road, headlong into mid-afternoon traffic as he crossed the Cardinia Road signalised intersection.
Though he escaped at the time, Russo was arrested later that day.
He initially told police that he’d been bashed and robbed of the ute while trying to sell it.
He claimed he’d walked home from Cranbourne with no socks and shoes after the ‘robbery’.
Russo also pleaded guilty to disqualified driving in Pakenham in December.
His car was impounded for 30 days after police intercepted him.
On 27 August, defence lawyer Nick Power submitted for Dandenong Magistrates’ Court to take into account Russo’s intellectual disability, ADHD and possible personality disorder.
A jail term would serve “some purpose” but in other aspects would be “counter-productive”, Mr Power said.
“He’s still maturing, though slowly.
“All hope is not lost for Mr Russo.”
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen likened Russo’s behaviour to “discharging a firearm in a public place”.
It was fortunate that other drivers took evasive action, he said.
“Usually, drivers don’t give a sideways glance (as they enter a traffic light-controlled intersection).”
He noted that Russo at the time had been on a community corrections order for dangerous driving while pursued by police.
“What do you do with him?” he pondered.
“The driving until police lost sight of him was incredibly dangerous.”
Mr Vandersteen said though there was a risk of harm in custody, Russo was in “prison territory”.
His sentence was deferred for a hearing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 29 October.
