A 51 year-old was convicted and sentenced to three months’ jail on a 12-month suspended sentence after a magistrate found him guilty of two counts of dangerous driving.
His driver’s licence was also cancelled and he was disqualified from driving for 12 months effective Monday.
Michael Moxon was found to have been driving a B-double petrol tanker dangerously on 28 December 2010 between Stratford and Bairnsdale on an inbound trip, and again outbound between Sale and Flynn.
The Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court heard on Monday Moxon had, among other instances, tailgated a four wheel-drive approaching Stratford for five kilometres, causing the driver to “fear for his life”.
The court also heard he had overtaken vehicles from the left lane and driven closely to other vehicles on the road.
In handing down the sentence, Magistrate Mellas said there was no real explanation why Moxon had behaved in that particular manner.
However, he acknowledged Moxon had displayed remorse and accepted responsibility for his actions and had been driving for the past 15 months without a repeat offence.
“(Moxon) committed breaches of legislation which are all about community safety; on that day, (he) placed any number of people at risk,” Mr Mellas said.
“Roads are getting busier and in my view are not built for the traffic it is handling; heavy vehicle drivers need to have a different level of professionalism while on the roads.”
Intervention order breached
A Moe man was fined $400 after he was found to have breached an interim intervention order prohibiting him from being within 200 metres of an address in Moe.
Trevor Rutch pleaded guilty to the charge of breaching the intervention order on 27 September 2011.
The Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court heard on Monday Rutch was driving past the house on his way home from work and saw his two-year old son outside and had stopped.
In delivering his decision, Magistrate Mellas said there were a number of ways Rutch could have gone home, bypassing the house.
Mr Mellas said the court took breaches of intervention orders “very seriously”.
Man fined for plants
A Latrobe Valley man was fined and convicted after he was found to be in possession of a “very large quantity” of cannabis in his home in January this year.
The Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court heard on Monday police had been called out to the property on an unrelated matter and had smelled a “strong aroma of cannabis”.
Upon executing a search warrant, police found various items including timers, grow lights, 10 medium-sized plants and plastic bags containing a quantity of cannabis among other items.
They also found a collection of coins believed to have been proceeds of a crime.
Magistrate Mellas sentenced Wayne Garland to a $1500 fine with conviction, and ruled all items would be seized, forfeited and destroyed.
Mr Mellas said given there was evidence of a “sophisticated way of growing cannabis”, it was unlikely the plants were just for personal use.
