A WAGGA man’s chances of staying out of jail seem to hinge on his suitability for an intensive correction order after pleading guilty to 20 offences, including four counts of driving while suspended.
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Dewyane Martin Coghill, 34, of Mount Austin and formerly of Leeton, admitted to the crimes in Wagga Local Court on Friday.
He agreed he drove four times while suspended between October 1 and 11, including twice in two days.
His licence was suspended by police in May after being caught breaking the speed limit by more than 45 kilometres an hour.
On three occasions, Coghill was driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle after his registration expired on October 2.
And three times he gave police a false name.
“You got me chief, you know who I am, I’m Dewayne,” Coghill said after his ruse failed the third time.
On one occasion, Coghill was charged with driving while suspended after he drove to the police station to report on bail and officers saw his car parked in a space for disabled drivers.
“My partner has a sore leg,” he told police.
But Coghill’s most serious offence was stealing the car of a man who drove him to Yanco’s Ski Beach in February this year.
As the man returned to the beach after riding a jet ski, Coghill drove off in his car with a trailer behind.
While the man unsuccessfully tried to ring police on his mobile telephone, other people turned up looking for Coghill.
Coghill drove back to the beach, got out of the car but then jumped back in and drove away.
In Leeton, another man contacted by the group followed Coghill who became stuck on a Pine Avenue median strip garden bed and then reversed into another car.
Police who had been alerted to the fracas, waved Coghill down and he stopped for them.
He was charged with take and drive conveyance without the consent of the owner, negligent driving and driving under the influence of drugs.
His solicitor on Friday, David Davidge, said there was more to the beach drama, with Coghill believing he had to flee the area because of wrongful allegations made against him.
Mr Davidge conceded all the matters put together reached the threshold of a custodial sentence, but he urged magistrate Erin Kennedy to consider other options, including an intensive correction order.
Ms Kennedy will sentence Coghill on February 10 after his suitability for the intensive correction order is assessed by Community Corrections.
The magistrate warned Coghill that in the meantime he would be sent to jail if he even sat in the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle.