
A repeat disqualified driver who left an Albury magistrate less than impressed with his feeble excuse has gone out six days later and done it all again.
Richard Funston has warned Zachary Jacob Grant that he just doesn't know whether there was any other option than jail.
Grant had been placed on a community corrections order and got a further 12-month driving ban in Albury Local Court on May 31 over his previous offending.
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That, he had tried to tell the court, had come about because he couldn't otherwise get home with his baby from Albury hospital.
He called a taxi, the court was told, but when it arrived he found it did not have a seat installed to take an infant so had to turn it away.
That, the Lavington man told the court, was why he got behind the wheel of a relative's car at the hospital and drove home.
At the time, Mr Funston dismissed the excuse as rubbish.
Prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Pike has told Mr Funston this week that Grant committing the same offence yet again, so soon after his last court appearance, meant just one thing.
"I'd suggest the threshold has been crossed, your honour (for a jail sentence)," Sergeant Pike said.
Mr Funston was equally unimpressed.
"Seriously, Mr Grant, you're not taking this seriously at all," he told the 23-year-old, who pleaded guilty to a second offence of driving while disqualified.
The charge related to an incident in early June when Grant, in a Victorian-registered BMW SUV, was seen driving north on Wagga Road in Lavington.
Police did a U-turn in their vehicle and saw Grant pull into a McDonald's restaurant.
When they found his car, Grant "attempted to hide his face as police pulled up".
"The accused stated he was aware he should not be driving," police said, "but his mother-in-law had just died and his partner does not hold a driver's licence either."
Mr Funston was not prepared to finalise Grant's matter, instead adjourning the case to August 11 to allow for the preparation of a sentence assessment report.
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