Kevin Leon Moffat, 23, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to failing to stop on police direction, drug driving, speeding between 10km/h and 25km/h over the limit, unlicensed driving, using an unregistered vehicle, obtaining property by deception, possessing cannabis and failing to answer bail, as well as handling, receiving or retaining stolen goods.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Brent O’Grady told the court Moffat bought $85 worth of scratchies in Shepparton with a credit card that had been stolen overnight on December 2, 2020.
When he was arrested, Moffat told police he was given the card by an associate and knew it must have been stolen before he bought the scratchies, Leading Sen Const O’Grady said.
The court was told that in a separate incident, Moffat was spotted by police driving at 74km/h in Homewood Dve, Mooroopna, on May 14, 2021.
When police turned their lights on to stop him, he drove away from them on the wrong side of a median strip, before stopping in Campbell Crt.
Moffat was drug driving, had never held a driver’s licence and the car registration had expired.
The court heard when he was interviewed by police, Moffat told them he had seen them behind him and had sped to “get away”.
He also told them he had used cannabis 90 minutes earlier.
Nine days earlier police had found 0.71g of cannabis in his pocket.
He was also found with 8.37g of cannabis when he was spoken to by police about breaching the Victorian chief health officer’s COVID-19 lockdown directions after he was spotted walking in a Shepparton street at 1.02am on September 14, 2021.
Moffat’s solicitor D’arcy Borzoula said her client used cannabis “quite heavily” to block out violence he saw during his childhood and the recent death of his grandmother.
She said he had also used methamphetamines, but had significantly cut back in 2020.
Ms Borzoula said Moffat had used the stolen card because he did not have money because he had spent it on drugs.
She also said her client would like to address his drug issues and there had not been any more dishonesty offences since these ones.
Moffat was placed on a 12-month community corrections order, which includes 100 hours of community work.
He will also have to undergo drug counselling as part of the order.
Moffat was fined $500 on the drug possession charges and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
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