CASESTUDY Actor pleads guilty in court
An Australian actor was charged with drug driving, driving while unlicensed and providing false details to police in April 2021. He was intercepted by police while driving his silver Peugeot on St Kilda Rd in Melbourne. The police stopped him after checking his car’s registration and discovering he was unlicensed. At the scene, the actor initially told police that he didn’t have his licence on him, and gave police a false name. When the police ofýcers expressed doubt about the name, the actor claimed to have a twin brother. However, he correctly identiýed himself when police threatened to arrest him. He pleaded with police not to test him for drugs, admitting to using marijuana a few days before. After the actor admitted that he had lost his licence two months earlier, his car was impounded on the spot. The police later found that he had methamphetamine (ice) in his system.
FIGURE7 An Australian actor was charged with drug driving, providing false details to police and driving while unlicensed in Melbourne. After pleading guilty, he was ýned $2500 and disqualiýed from driving for 16 months.
The actor appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in October 2022. He pleaded guilty to the charges. His defence lawyer told the court that he was driving to his mother’s house for Easter and to drop off groceries. Melbourne was in a COVID lockdown at the time. The lawyer explained that he panicked when giving police the false name because he knew that he should not have been driving with a suspended licence. The court also heard that the actor’s ongoing legal troubles were causing signiýcant strain on him and his family. Additionally, he had 169 outstanding penalties with Fines Victoria, amounting to $65 215. In delivering her decision, Magistrate Olivia Trumble noted that while the actor’s actions were serious, imprisonment was not appropriate. She acknowledged his remorse and his ongoing efforts to recover, but said that he needed to deal with the outstanding penalties. The magistrate also noted that the actor had shown a total disregard for his unlicenced status. The actor was ýned $2500 and disqualiýed from driving in Victoria for 16 months.
13.4 SkillBuilder activity INVESTIGATING Find a news article about a recent Australian criminal case and ýll in the table. Note: • First complete rows 1 to 6. • Complete rows 7 and 8 if the information is available in your article. • If you cannot complete rows 7 and 8, complete row 9.
1 Title of article 2 Date and source (including the URL) 3 Name of the court 4 Name of the accused 5 Identify the charge or charges
6 The names of other court ofýcials named and their role (including lawyers) 7 The decision — what was the outcome of the case? Guilty or not guilty? 8 The sentence imposed 9 If you were the judge or magistrate, what do you think would be an appropriate penalty? Justify your decision.
TOPIC13 Laws and citizens 491
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