Zac Gillbanks got his car wedged by a tree during a police chase in Nelson. He managed to break free and speed off, but was arrested after reporting his car stolen. Photo / 123RF
Zac Gillbanks got his car wedged by a tree during a police chase in Nelson. He managed to break free and speed off, but was arrested after reporting his car stolen. Photo / 123RF
A man desperate to escape police managed to flee, even after getting his car wedged by a tree.
However, the next day, he phoned police to report his car as stolen, and was arrested soon after.
“This is your final warning, with prison to follow, if you goout and do something dumb like this again,” Judge Tony Snell told recidivist offender Zac Gillbanks in Nelson District Court this week.
“You are becoming a menace and the community doesn’t need people like you.”
The 32-year-old - with a catalogue of 45 convictions since 2011 for violence, dishonesty, drugs and driving offences - was told by Judge Snell that his latest involved “idiotic driving” that ran the risk of harming others.
Zac Gillbanks is no stranger to prison and told the judge during sentencing in the Nelson District Court that he didn’t plan to return there. Photo / Tracy Neal
One of two parked cars Gillbanks hit while fleeing police was written off, the court heard.
Late at night on March 22 this year, Gillbanks was driving down a suburban Nelson street when police started to follow him.
According to the summary of facts, he turned off his headlights and sped off, Judge Snell said.
Gillbanks turned into a nearby street, and crashed into a parked car which he then bounced off and hit a parked courier van.
His car then mounted the pavement curb and became wedged by a tree.
Police activated their lights, and as they pulled up behind the wedged car, which Gillbanks was revving heavily, it broke free. He then drove off down the footpath and sped away.
As he drove down a nearby street, he was captured on CCTV stopping and running away from the vehicle.
The next day, Gillbanks phoned the police and reported the vehicle as stolen.
He said he had parked it in his driveway with the keys under the seat, and someone had stolen it.
Judge Snell said that in Gillbanks’ desperation to escape the police, he gave a false report in an attempt to “weasel his way out” of what he had done.
“It was a separate, silly decision to file a false report.”
Then, on April 10, during a search of Gillbanks’ home, police found several cannabis plants and a bong.
In court, defence lawyer Wayne Jones was cut short when providing background to the offending.
Judge Snell said Gillbanks was serving a sentence for previous similar offending when the latest occurred, and he didn’t want to hear how he might do “this or that” to help his position.
“This was silly offending on the back of similar and I don’t want to see it again,” Judge Snell said.
Gillbanks, who was no stranger to prison, said he didn’t plan to return there.
“This was a close call for you,” Judge Snell said.
Gillbanks was sentenced to three months’ home detention for reckless driving, failing to stop for police, making a false statement, plus the cannabis charges.
He was ordered to pay $400 reparation to cover the insurance excess on one of the vehicles, and disqualified from driving for a further 12 months, on top of a nine-month disqualification already in place, which meant he was banned from driving for the next 21 months.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
