Shiloh Weston, 24, of Shepparton, unsuccessfully applied for bail in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.
He is charged with dangerous driving while pursued by police, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, unlicensed driving, using an unregistered vehicle, refusing to do a drug test and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
Shepparton Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Nathan Berryman told the court police tried to stop the white Kia sedan allegedly being driven by Mr Weston three times in 15 minutes during a chase on April 14.
The court heard the first attempted stop came at 1.45pm on St George’s Rd in Shepparton, with Mr Weston driving off fast when police activated their lights and sirens.
Tracked by Police Air Wing, police allege Mr Weston drove on the wrong side of the road, cut corners and overtook cars on the wrong side.
He also allegedly forced two other vehicles to take evasive action to avoid a collision as he drove on the wrong side of the road at the intersection of St George’s and Wilmot Rds.
In Norfolk Crt, police pulled up behind the stationary Kia to try to block it in, but it got away.
When it stopped again in Gale Crt, another police car parked in front of it to block it in, before Mr Weston allegedly reversed and drove around the vehicle.
One of the police officers was out of the car at the time and “tactically retreated” out of the way, Det Sen Constable Berryman said.
Police allege Mr Weston then drove “erratically”, including allegedly travelling at 100km/h in a 50km/h zone in Isabella St.
He also “smashed through” a road works site on to Wilmot Rd, which was closed to all traffic at the time, and drove through the site at 65km/h near road workers, Det Sen Constable Berryman said.
Police eventually arrested him after he ran into a unit in Wilmot Rd.
At the police station, Mr Weston refused to do a drug test.
The car he was driving was also unregistered and he was driving unlicensed – having never held a driver’s licence.
Det Sen Constable Berryman told the court Mr Weston was also facing charges over a brawl in Shepparton’s central business district in the early hours of March 2.
The court also heard about an incident in 2022 where Mr Weston drove into a police car in a stolen car, drove on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic and was involved in multiple evasions of police in Echuca.
In February last year, he was sentenced to prison for this, before being released on parole on March 2 this year — the day before the Shepparton brawl.
Det Sen Constable Berryman said Mr Weston had been involved in multiple evasions of police in the past, and he believed that if police attempted to pull him over, he would do the same thing again.
“He’s showing the same behaviour by continuing to drive dangerously in the middle of the day,” Det Sen Constable Berryman said.
“His offending has put the community at risk with his driving.”
Mr Weston’s defence solicitor Ian Michaelson said his client should be bailed, as he was Aboriginal, still youthful, had an intellectual disability, could take part in the Court Integrated Services Program and could live with an uncle.
No pleas have been entered to any of the charges.
Magistrate Allison Vaughan refused bail, saying she considered the offending serious and that if Mr Weston was found guilty she did not think any time on remand would exceed a prison sentence he was likely to receive.
She also said she felt the risk Mr Weston posed could not be ameliorated to an acceptable level.
He will next appear in court later in May.
