Raj Rokaya pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to driving carelessly and unlicensed driving.
Prosecutor Senior Constable Braden Wright told the court Rokaya hit a parked car while driving a Nissan wagon on St George’s Rd, Shepparton at 5.35am on September 10, 2024.
Sen Constable Wright said condensation on the Nissan’s windscreen obscured Rokaya’s vision, so he reached down to adjust the air conditioner.
However, he swerved left and hit an unoccupied parked red Toyota sedan.
Rokaya showed police his Nepalese driver’s licence; however, because he’d been in Australia since 2018, it was invalid.
Rokaya told police he “didn’t see the car” and he “noticed it after I hit it”.
He also told police he was driving to drop off his uncle, and he’d “driven before with the windscreen like that”.
Representing himself in court, Rokaya said it was early in the morning and winter, and he looked down to fix the air conditioner because the windscreen had started fogging up when he collided with the car.
Rokaya told the court he worked at a meat processing factory in Echuca, which his brother drove him to, and he now had a Victorian learner’s permit and was going for his licence next month.
Magistrate Peter Dunn told Rokaya he “should not have been driving”.
“When it’s winter and foggy, you need to stop,” he said.
Rokaya was fined $900 and ordered to pay court costs of $140.
No conviction was recorded, and his licence was suspended for one month.
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