Boosted Falcon

A SERIAL hoon has pleaded to be spared jail, on the day Victoria recorded its 200th road death for the year.
Jamie Alex Tabone's lawyer argued he had lost the ability to make decisions four years ago, after suffering a head injury - when he smashed his car into a tree.

A magistrate heard yesterday that Tabone, 23, of Berwick, drove his high-performance car at speeds of more than 230km/h, at night with his headlights off, while fleeing police last December.

One night two weeks later, he was at it again, fleeing police at 140km/h. This time he crashed, and ran and hid among trees.

Ringwood Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that at the time, Tabone had already lost his licence for a litany of driving offences, including two other police pursuits.

In 2008, he was disqualified from driving for three years after pleading guilty to four counts of driving while disqualified and one of reckless conduct endangering life.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering life, three charges of driving while disqualified, two of evading police, and one each of drink-driving and dangerous driving.

The charges related to police pursuits on the Melba Highway, in the Yarra Valley, last December and in Warragul on January 3, and a third occasion when he was pulled over for driving while disqualified in Ferntree Gully on April 21.

Tabone boasts about his XR8 Ford Falcon on MySpace. Under a picture of it, he calls it a "weapon" and "t bones pride an joy".

Defence lawyer Richard Davis told the court he was "gobsmacked and bewildered" when initially told of his client's driving charges.

"It just defies logic. He's a peril on the roads - we're talking high speeds," he said.

Mr Davis said the acquired brain injury his client suffered in 2006 had been untreated, and he needed to take a drug normally used for epilepsy to normalise his behaviour.

"He knows what's right and wrong, but it's cognitive processes in this case," he said.

He called on magistrate Tony Parsons to spare his client jail, and instead impose an intensive corrections order that would see Tabone do unpaid community work.

Prosecutor Sen-Constable Louise Heal said Tabone's driving was extremely immature and irresponsible.

The case was adjourned to next Thursday for a pre-sentence assessment.

korupd wrote:No i didn't say that. I said most of us have done what he has done. Time and place and he obviously cannot grasp that concept. I agree he is an idiot for doing it. He crashes his car once or twice because an earlier accident was mentioned as well so he is a danger. What i was saying just to make sure it sinks in is.... that we have all driven outside the laws of the road, I wonder i'm sure i read you were fitting a turbo to an au, well are you getting an engineers certifcate for that modification? Tuning it to meet emission control? And will you always drive in a safe manner with out wheelspin or speeding? If yes then your fine to hang it on him otherwise it could be a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

UNR8D wrote:and unless you have had some serious work done id like to see an ED XR8 wheezer get to 230 in the first place.