By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A DRIVER accused of reaching speeds of up to 200 km/h on the M1 as he fled from police has been refused bail.
Jesse James Pratt was arrested after running out the back door of a home and hiding in a neighbouring property in Bunyip on 16 August, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court was told.
Pratt was wanted on several outstanding matters including four police pursuits and failing to appear at court, police informant Sergeant Warren Frost told the court.
During the M1 pursuit on 25 July, police allegedly abandoned a lights-and-sirens chase but used a helicopter to track Pratt allegedly driving a borrowed Ford Territory with stolen number plates, the court was told.
At the time he was a learner driver and was disqualified for failing an oral drug-driving test, and was not complying with a county court imposed corrections order, the court heard.
The vehicle was seen travelling fast on City Road, then accelerated from police onto Kings Way and West Gate Bridge about 4am.
A passenger later told police he feared for his life as the vehicle’s speedometer touched 200 km/h on West Gate Bridge, and thought the car would tip as it turned left on Williamstown Road.
The passenger allegedly told Pratt to slow down to let him out several times before he jumped out of the vehicle in Southbank and was arrested.
According to a police Air Wing officer, the vehicle reached estimated speeds of up to 170 km/h as it travelled east on the Monash Freeway until it turned into at Clyde Road, Berwick, and drove to Cannons Creek.
Pratt’s girlfriend was arrested at Cannons Creek but Pratt couldn’t be located.
Pratt has also been charged with allegedly speeding at 100 km/h in a 60 km/h zone in Swan Hill in July 2015, and allegedly evading an abandoned police pursuit up to 170 km/h on Murray Valley Highway in northern Victoria in January.
Pratt also allegedly struck a vehicle while fleeing from police in an unregistered Holden with stolen plates in Glenferrie Road, Armadale. He allegedly reached a speed of up to 120 km/h in a 40 km/h zone in High Street.
He was also charged after police seized $550 cash and a handgun from a car believed to be used in a drug run in December 2015, the court was told.
Sergeant Frost told the bail hearing on 29 August that Pratt showed a willingness to break speed limits by a “ridiculous amount”.
Pratt’s defence lawyer said the accused would contest a number of the charges, claiming a lack of evidence identifying the accused in two of the pursuits.
The court heard Pratt had made no admissions during a police interview.
The lawyer submitted that Pratt – who had ice issues, bipolar disorder and a mild intellectual disability – could be bailed on a CREDIT bail treatment program with judicial monitoring.
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell, in rejecting bail, said Pratt was a young man with a significant criminal history and “little to none” engagement with his corrections order.
Pratt was an unacceptable risk of endangering public safety and welfare, who had previously failed to attend court and had previous stints at CREDIT bail.
