by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Berwick hoon has pleaded guilty to seat-swapping with a passenger while driving on Monash Freeway and other dangerous acts after a magistrate’s sentence indication spared him jail.
Subhanu Mittal, 20, pleaded on 20 June to 15 charges including reckless conduct endangering life, driving with a suspended licence, dangerously losing traction and being a P-plater driving a prohibited vehicle.
Dandenong magistrate Julian Ayres indicated that Mittal, if he pleaded guilty, would face conviction, a “substantial fine” and a non-punitive community corrections order.
“It was a miracle there was no crash or collision. It’s extraordinary – thankfully – almost inconceivable that it didn’t happen.”
Mr Ayres rejected a prosecution submission for jail time, as well as a defence submission for a non-conviction.
Police had detailed Mittal’s 360-degree burnouts, fishtailing, 200-km/h drag racing on Monash Freeway as well as seat-swapping at high speeds on the freeway, in Domain Tunnel and on Princes Highway, Hallam over four months in 2023.
During the seat swaps, the BMW was left on cruise control and lane-assist while without a driver for up to 17 seconds. One of them was performed on the Monash on a Saturday afternoon.
With his licence suspended at the time, Mittal posted his Domain Tunnel seat-swapping video on social media with the label: “No licence, no worries”.
During the stunt in Hallam, Mittal swapped seats with a 17-year-old learner driver moving out from behind the wheel.
On a video of the incident, the L-plater exclaimed “that was crazy as s***” and that he wouldn’t do it again.
Mittal responded that it was “safe as”. There was no one in the driver’s seat for nine seconds, the court heard.
A defence lawyer argued the BMW’s “intelligent” cruise-control could detect cars in front of it and slow it down, if necessary.
“This isn’t a dumb cruise control.”
Magistrate Ayres responded that it wasn’t a driverless car either. The police prosecutor later asserted that “technology frequently fails”.
Mittal and his family had high expectations for him, his lawyer argued.
He lived in the “shadow” of his father, a successful business-person who owned an IGA supermarket and other enterprises, the court heard.
However, his Year 12 studies were upended by a medical condition and he recorded an “abysmal” ATAR score. He then rebelled against his parents and fell into a “bad crowd”.
Mittal sought a “temporary escape and relief” from his health issues and poor results, a psychologist reported. Anxiety and depression also impaired his reasoning and judgement.
Since the charges, the business-degree student had regained his drivers’ licence and mixed with more positive peers.
In December, he had run a red traffic-light causing police motorcyclists to take evasive action, but not re-offended in 2024.
“His father and mother are watching him like a hawk,” the lawyer said.
A police prosecutor submitted for a jail term or jail combined with an “extensive” CCO.
A “strong message” needed to be sent against hoon behaviour that endangered the public, the prosecutor argued.
In his sentence indication, Mr Ayres noted there was a need to protect the community from “potentially disastrous consequences”.
Leaving the driver’s seat was “almost at the highest end of reckless conduct”.
But also Mittal was “very young” at the time and “obviously very impressionable” with a limited history of driving offences and no drug or alcohol issues.
As a youthful offender, Mittal’s rehabilitation was a primary focus – particularly because no one was actually injured or killed.
“Driving offences are very largely consequence-based,” he noted.
“(I’m) not sending him to jail but it has to be a conviction. It’s too serious globally.”
Mittal accepted the indication of a conviction, a “substantial” fine, a two-year CCO and two-year driving disqualification.
The CCO would include a road-trauma awareness course, supervision, mental health treatment but no unpaid work.
His sentencing is set for Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 28 June.
The prosecutor also applied for the forfeiture of the high-powered BMW, which will be considered at a later date.
The car was prohibited for P-platers due to its high power-weight ratio, and registered to a business in which Mittal and his parents were co-directors, the court heard.
The defence lawyer told the court that he would oppose the forfeiture due to Mittal’s father holding a “high equitable interest” in the car.
It was driven by Mittal without the parents’ knowledge, he submitted.
Mittal’s co-accused twin brother Sushant meanwhile is contesting up to 110 similar charges at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in July.
The twin had rejected a sentence indication in March that included a jail term if he pleaded guilty.
