Disqualified driver used brother’s identity for eight months before being found out

A disqualified driver who gave his brother's licence details to avoid detection has been sentenced in the Hutt Valley District Court. Photo / NZPA

A repeat disqualified driver who passed off his brother’s driver’s licence details as his own to police was able to keep up the deception for eight months.

In that time, John Palmer’s brother was served with a court summons, charged with driving while disqualified and even had a warrant issued for his arrest when he failed to show up to the Hutt Valley District Court in December 2022.

Palmer’s lie only came to light when police stopped his brother in June last year and inquiries showed he was overseas at the time of the offending. The brother’s charges were subsequently withdrawn, and Palmer was issued a summons in July.

This week, Palmer, 21, appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court after admitting charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and two charges of driving while disqualified.

The summary of facts shows Palmer was stopped by the police in November 2022, having received his fourth conviction for driving while disqualified the month before.

As a disqualified driver Palmer gave his brother’s driver’s licence details.

In explanation, Palmer told police he thought his disqualification had already ended and it wasn’t him as he was out of the country at the time.

Crown prosecutor George Fitzgerald told the court the offending was at the lower end of seriousness in terms of this type of charge. But Palmer had kept up the deception for eight months and it was important it didn’t happen again, he said.

Palmer’s lawyer Steve Gill said he took no issue with the Crown’s sentencing recommendations.

Judge Michael Mika told Palmer the charge of perverting the course of justice was serious, usually attracting a sentence of imprisonment or home detention.

He acknowledged Palmer’s guilty pleas, his young age and family circumstances and instead sentenced him to four months’ community detention with a curfew and disqualified him from driving for 15 months.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.