Drug-driver drove at police in wild pursuit
A TROUBLED young man drove at police and reached shocking speeds of up to 200km/h during a wild pursuit across Geelong.
County Court of Victoria’s Judge Michael Tinney said 20year-old Corio man Callum Hynum was going to “kill someone (or) he’s going to kill himself” if he continued to drive as erratically as he did early this year.
About 6.20pm on February 7, several police cars and a helicopter pursued Hynum as he crossed on to the wrong side of the Princes Hwy and wove between oncoming traffic at 150-200km/h.
One man tried to brake and swerve his van out of the way but was hit by Hynum, causing him to mount the median strip and hit a light pole that snapped and fell on top of his car.
Hynum, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, intentionally cause injury and exposing emergency workers to risk, was “severely affected by drugs” at the time and did not hold a licence.
Three hours earlier, a man ran out of his house to find Hynum driving away with his car at a fast rate of speed. The man pursued him in his wife’s car and found he had left the stolen car by the greyhound racetrack at Beckley Park.
Hynum came back to find the man and pointed an unknown black object at him that the victim “thought was a gun”. When the man left his car to speak to another motorist who had witnessed the incident, Hynum punched him to the back of his head and the right side of his face before fleeing in one of the cars.
While escaping, Hynum drove on the wrong side of the road and collided with the back of an oncoming car as it swerved to avoid him.
The two people inside said they “thought they were going to die”.
Patrolling officers activated their lights, prompting Hynum to increase his speed, drive directly at them, and hit their car. He was arrested after his car was damaged.
Hynum’s lawyer, Liliana Dubrojla, said his upbringing was “extremely difficult” and included being “in an environment where alcohol and drug use was rampant around him”.
Judge Tinney said while his age would ordinarily factor into sentencing, “his youth becomes less and less important” given the level of the offending.
“He’s going to kill himself … but in these instances, they tend not to kill themselves, they tend to kill others,” Judge Tinney said.
“He’s travelling at speeds people can’t possibly factor in and he’s travelling in the wrong direction. “There are no survivors out of that sort of impact.”
Hynum will return for sentencing at a later date.