Actor avoids prison

UNDERBELLY star Vince Colosimo has avoided jail again despite admitting getting behind the wheel high on ice during his third driver’s licence suspension.

Magistrate David Starvaggi had warned the actor he was staring down the barrel of a jail term before agreeing to let him off with a $3500 fine.

Colosimo, 50, was also convicted and ordered to stay off the road for five months.

The one-time darling of the Australian small screen, who hit the big time with his role as gangland boss Alphonse Gangitano in TV’s Underbelly series, would not comment outside court.

His lawyer, Tara Hartnett, had moments earlier told the court the media interest in the case, and the possibility he could be locked up, had caused Colosimo “great anxiety”.

She asked that the magistrate consider a monetary disposition over imprisonment.

Under the Road Safety Act, driving while suspended has a maximum penalty of two years’ jail or a fine of up to $38,060.

Colosimo, who was sporting a fitted blue suit with thickrimmed glasses, pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence of drugs and driving while suspended.

The court heard Colosimo returned a positive drug test when stopped by police in his black Saab on Exhibition St in Melbourne’s CBD about 5.40pm on March 5.

He had been suspended from driving after losing his licence on demerit points 10 days earlier.

When asked by the officers who pulled him over why he was driving on a barred licence, he said: “Sorry, I didn’t believe it was suspended.”

His licence was suspended for the third time on February 24 for six months until August 23.

In a warning to the actor, Mr Starvaggi said: “You shouldn’t have been on the road.”

As for driving under the influence of drugs, the magistrate said “that’s a basic issue that even a kindergarten kid could understand”.

“You really are risking jail time if you come back,” Mr Starvaggi said.