Jail time for Donnybrook speed driver without licence

A Donnybrook man who led police on a speeding chase without ever having held a valid driver’s licence has landed himself behind bars. Lachlan Robert Clark Beswick appeared in Bunbury Magistrate’s Court last week when he was sentenced to 10 months jail time and required to pay a fine of $1500 for a string of traffic and drug offences. Beswick was driving about 10.55pm on January 23 on Dodson Road in Bunbury when he was instructed to stop by police, but instead accelerated towards South Western Highway where he spun out at an intersection, entered the wrong side of the road and ran a red light, the court was told. Police prosecutor Sgt Greg Ward said the seven minute pursuit saw Beswick travel about 100km/h in a 50km/h zone before police lost sight of him. In a verbal pre-sentence report, the court was told the 19-year-old was under the influence of cannabis at the time and failed to stop after becoming stressed when the young passengers in the car screamed and told him to drive faster after hearing police sirens. In February, Beswick and his father — who supplied him with cannabis to help with his ADHD and to sell to friends — flew from Perth to Melbourne, where they bought a pound of cannabis and transported it back to Donnybrook via a campervan, the court was told. Sgt Ward said Beswick claimed the money from the cannabis sales went to his father, who told him the family was saving for a trip to England to visit their poorly grandmother. Police raided his father’s Donnybrook home in March and seized drug paraphernalia and 454g of cannabis, which Sgt Ward considered to be “no small amount”. Beswick’s defence lawyer Michael Laurino said his father had persuaded him to sell cannabis to his friends, but he did not keep any of the payments. Magistrate Joanne Andretich said Beswick’s actions were inherently dangerous to both members of the public and police in pursuit. “It needs to be a sentence that sends a message to other members of the community not to do the same,” she said. Beswick was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment and made eligible for parole, required to pay a fine of $1500 and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.