A Dunedin man found hiding in shrubbery has admitted to driving 200kmh in a police chase.
On July 12, police observed Callum Swinburn, 21, driving erratically in Main South Rd, the Dunedin District Court heard this week.
As Swinburn weaved between lanes at 180kmh, police attempted to stop the man.
Road spikes were deployed in Aramoana Rd and punctured two of the vehicle’s tyres.
Swinburn continued driving to Careys Bay, where he encountered a second set of spikes, which punctured the last two tyres.
The man ignored police and continued driving to Sawyers Bay before driving on to a rugby field at the local school.
Swinburn was found hiding in a patch of shrubbery 500m away.
The man told police he had reached speeds of 200kmh.
At the time of the offending, Swinburn was completing a sentence of intensive supervision for charges of burglary, theft, wilful damage and assaulting police.
"You are a young man and whether or not you spend the bulk of your life in prison is up to you,’’ Judge Jim Large said.
Swinburn was convicted of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, breaching intensive supervision and receiving stolen property, after he sold a stolen laptop to a pawnshop.
Judge Large acknowledged the man’s difficult upbringing and said his history made for “very sorry reading".
He encouraged the defendant to make the most of the opportunity for rehabilitation so “you don’t have to listen to people like me sending you to jail".
Swinburn was sentenced to nine and a-half months’ imprisonment, disqualified from driving for one year and ordered to pay $300 reparation for the laptop.
