Dunedin man jailed after racking up 90 driving infringements

Michael Batchelor was chatting on his cellphone and failed to stop at a mandatory stop sign when police saw him. File photo / Geoff Sloan

By Rob Kidd

A Dunedin man has been jailed for six weeks after a dangerous police chase landed him in court, adding to his massive list of driving infringements.

Michael Joseph Batchelor, 23, has 90 infringements to his name and has been suspended six times, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.

Judge Michael Crosbie, who took the man's guilty plea on Tuesday, said Batchelor had accumulated the most demerit points he had seen in years.

He had no licence when police spotted him turning into Dunedin's Dundas St from Clyde St on July 26 - and he did little to fly under the radar.

Batchelor was chatting on his cellphone at the time and ignored a mandatory stop sign.

When officers turned on their lights and siren, he took off, speeding through a red light at the intersection with Cumberland St at 70km/h.

It was just before 2.30pm when Batchelor raced through the busy Dunedin student precinct.

"There were numerous other road users at this time. Due to the defendant's driving they had to take evasive action," police said.

Batchelor blasted through the next set of lights at Great King St and by the time he turned into George St, police were 250m behind and could not catch up.

His Holden stretched the distance to 350m when he accelerated along Park St.

Police ended the pursuit because of the danger to the public. Batchelor did not waste time covering his tracks once he knew police would be searching for him.

"Within an hour the defendant had arranged to sell or swap his Holden," police said.

He swapped it with a Toyota two days later.

When police tracked down Batchelor, he denied being the driver and said he did not own a Holden.

However, he pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving and failing to stop for police when he appeared in court this week.

Judge Michael Turner, who sentenced Batchelor yesterday, said his last time before the court in April 2015 for reckless driving causing injury resulted in a home-detention term.

But it had not changed Batchelor's attitude, he said.

"The gravity of the offending is extremely high," Judge Turner commented.

"This is a sustained course of driving through the centre of Dunedin on a weekday afternoon."

Judge Turner said the sentence had to deter Batchelor and anyone else tempted to do the same thing.

"There is also an element of protecting the public from you," he said.

The judge said it was difficult to detect any remorse on the part of the defendant but the man's counsel, Deborah Henderson, said the chase had been "a huge wake-up call" for her client.

She said it was scientifically acknowledged men's brains were not fully developed until the age of 25.

"[Batchelor] has accepted he hasn't quite reached brain maturity," Henderson said.

Judge Turner jailed him for six weeks and banned him from driving for 15 months.

Batchelor will spend his 24th birthday in jail.