Liam Shane Marsh (25) appeared in the Dunedin District Court this afternoon after admitting an array of charges including dangerous driving, unlawfully taking a vehicle and attempting to defeat the course of justice.
Judge David Robinson described it as “a long course of pretty outrageous driving that put a lot of people in danger”.
It all started in the same courthouse in which Marsh stood today.
He appeared in the Dunedin District Court on March 3 on unrelated and less serious charges and was bailed to appear at a later date in the Oamaru District Court.
There was a problem though.
He had no way of returning north.
At 1.10pm, just hours after being bailed, he found a Subaru outside a Wharf St business.
The doors were open and the keys were inside.
The theft of the car was “naive”, the judge said, but what happened next made things “infinitely worse”.
Seconds into the journey back to Oamaru, Marsh’s plans suffered a significant setback.
When he turned right into Strathallan St, he hit a Daihatsu, causing such severe damage the vehicle was written off.
It was, however, not enough to stop Marsh.
At the next intersection he was responsible for another collision, slamming into the back of a Toyota Platz which had been waiting at a red light.
Again, Marsh failed to stop and check whether he had caused injury.
The defendant was spotted by police in Caversham but accelerated when officers tried to pull him over.
Concerned for public safety, police pulled back and followed the errant driver from a distance.
The intervention did not put an end to Marsh’s recklessness.
Turning into Murray St, he hit a third car – a stationary Holden Barina.
The chase appeared to be over when the defendant turned into a residential driveway on the street and police blocked him in.
But he reversed, shunting the patrol car out of the way, and the mayhem continued.
Along Easther Cres, Marsh veered into a late-model Mercedes ute worth $50,000, court documents said.
The impact spun the defendant out of control and into a police dog wagon coming from the opposite direction, after which he was arrested.
A trainee police dog was injured as a result, the court heard.
“What happened on this occasion is not new for you,” Judge Robinson said.
Marsh had stolen cars as recently as last year and had previously been convicted of driving dangerously, to the point where he was banned from driving for four years in 2014.
Against that, he had suffered a “deprived” upbringing with an associated lack of support that had dogged him through his life.
It was telling, the judge said, that the words of encouragement that came from one of Marsh’s victim in a restorative justice conference were the first he could recall in many years.
He will be assessed by a residential rehabilitation provider and will be sentenced next month.
