A man was asleep in the driver's seat of a stolen car before leading police on a dangerous pursuit and driving on the wrong side of the road.
Alexander Cameron, 32, later wrote a letter of apology to the ACT Supreme Court saying he "put the lives of other road users and the police at risk."
"[I] am so lucky that no one was seriously hurt or killed," he wrote.
On Monday, May 25, Justice Verity McWilliam handed Cameron an almost four-year-and-three-month jail sentence which included the imposition of a previous suspended prison sentence.
Cameron was put on a drug and alcohol treatment order for about two years and three months with the custodial part of his sentences suspended.
He previously pleaded guilty to six charges including selling or supplying a drug of dependence, escaping arrest, driving a motor vehicle at police, and driving a stolen motor vehicle.
About 5am on September 24, 2024, police found Cameron asleep in the driver's seat of a stolen car parked on the shoulder of the Barton Highway.
When officers told Cameron he was under arrest, he said "OK" before driving away over a green belt, and onto the wrong side of the road.
Officers pursued the driver for the next 30 minutes around the Northbourne Avenue area. The man drove on the wrong side of the road and through multiple red lights.
About 5.50am one of the police cars made contact with the stolen vehicle to bring it to a stop. When Cameron was fully surrounded by police cars, he slowly reversed into a cop car.
When he was eventually removed from the stolen car, police found about 6.8 grams of methamphetamine, a pipe, zip lock bags and a scale.
The stolen vehicle was irreparably damaged and was not returned to its owner.
On Monday, Justice McWilliam said the 32-year-old intended to evade arrest but "given that he was asleep until shortly before the escape, his offending does not seem to have been premeditated or planned".
The judge found he had a disadvantaged childhood and had been a drug user since his early teens.
Cameron had spent about one year and eight months in jail prior to sentencing. This was taken into account and his sentence was backdated.
He has also been disqualified from driving for two years.
