Police pursuit, also known as ‘Skye’s law’, is treated seriously by the courts.
The latest sentencing statistics for Skye’s law cases show that 933 cases came before the courts in the past 4 years.
Of those cases, 387 people were sent to prison (41%), 177 received ‘suspended prison sentences’ (19%), 155 received good behaviour bonds with a criminal conviction (ie ‘section 9 bonds’, 16%) and 125 received community service orders (13%).
Only 1 person out of 933 avoided a criminal conviction by getting a ‘section 10’; which means guilty but no criminal record.
Sydney Criminal Lawyers® recently represented a 27 year dentist whose job involves travelling long distances between various locations.
She was driving between appointments at a speed of 213kp/h in a 110kp/h zone when she saw the flashing lights of a police car behind her.
She initially slowed down but then sped up to a speed of 216kp/h in an attempt to evade police.
She was chased for 6 km before she slowed down to a stop.
She was charged with (1) Dangerous driving not occasioning death / GBH, (2) Police pursuit (Skye’s law), and (3) Speeding by over 45 km/h
She had a strong need for a driver licence and, under the direction of our Senior Lawyer Jimmy Singh, completed the Traffic Offender Program and obtained an excellent report from our recommended psychologist.
Reference letters were also obtained indicating that a criminal conviction could have impeded her future career prospects.
Mr Singh managed to persuade police to drop the charges of ‘dangerous driving’ and ‘speeding by over 45km/h’ and our client pleaded guilty to ‘police pursuit’ only.
He also managed to significantly amend the police ‘facts’.
Mr Singh then persuasively presented the case in court and succeeded in convincing the Presiding Magistrate not to record a conviction against our client by awarding her a ‘section 10’.
This also means that there is no licence disqualification and no fine.
Our client is free to get on with her life and her career.