PAUL Robert Johnson was the man behind the wheel of a damaged white Ford Falcon that snaked its way through nearly a dozen Hunter suburbs during a high-speed police pursuit last year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But the tragic death of respected police officer Sergeant Geoffrey Richardson, who died while responding to the pursuit, could “not be laid at his door”, Newcastle Local Court has heard.
Johnson, disqualified from driving for life, had long denied being the driver that night, or two days earlier when the same car, with distinct “bullet holes” in the windscreen, led police on a pursuit through Rutherford.
He had pointed the finger at another man, Kenneth Ron McDonald, who had refused to give evidence during one eventful day of the protracted four-day hearing.
But Magistrate John Chicken said on Friday that he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, after piecing together witness testimony and CCTV footage from several businesses, that Johnson was in the driver’s seat of the Falcon as it sped from Maitland to Greta during the nearly 40 minute chase.
He found Johnson guilty of police pursuit and two counts of driving while disqualified.
However, Mr Chicken said the tragic death of Sergeant Richardson, who died when his car left Lovedale Road at Allandale and hit a tree, could not be treated as an aggravating factor for Johnson’s offending.
“Associated with these offences was the tragic death of a police officer,” Mr Chicken said. “That officer was responding to what I have found to be Mr Johnson's nature of driving.
“There is nothing in Mr Johnson's driving, however, that directly contributed to the death of Sergeant Richardson. “Tragic as it was, the death of Sergeant Richardson cannot, in a criminal justice sense, be laid at the door of this offender.”
Mr Chicken found Johnson not guilty of the March 3 police pursuit.
He was sentenced to a maximum of two years jail with a non-parole period of 18 months.