Man avoids jail for high speed police pursuit in Western Sydney

Police pursuit offences are considered to be serious criminal offences in New South Wales. They are otherwise known as Skye's Law. Police pursuit offences are governed in section 51B of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The maximum penalty for a first offence is three years in jail and a one year disqualification period.

Skye's Law was introduced in 2010 when a young girl aged 19 months, was killed during a high-speed police chase on New Year's Eve. Since then, these offences have been considered extremely serious given the risk and danger to the community.

In August 2023, our client was driving his high performance vehicle and was then followed by police. Once he saw that the police were chasing him, he began to speed up and was able to successfully evade police. Once found by police days later, he was charged.

At court, evidence was adduced on behalf of our client that prior to this offence, he was previously arrested by police a year earlier on an offence he did not commit and spent 5 days in custody. He was not charged for this offence. Our client's uncle was also year's ago, attacked by an officer and passed away in the process.

Due to this, evidence was adduced to show that our client panicked in the heat of the moment and acted impulsively, leading to him committing the offence. Further arguments were made on our client's behalf as to his nil criminal history and the objective seriousness of the offence.

The court agreed with our submissions and our client was able to secure a good behaviour bond as opposed to a full-time imprisonment sentence.

Ensuring that the court is fully aware of all of the circumstances surrounding our client's circumstances and state of mind at the time of the offence proved to be an important factor in achieving a desirable outcome.