After crime spree and crash, man urged to avoid ‘bad path’
DESPITE facing mental health problems and drug abuse demons, a man arrested after a wild crime spree has begun turning his life around.
Lance Andrew Hill was lucky to survive when a stolen car he was in crashed and split in two, Judge Paul E. Smith said on Monday in the Brisbane District Court.
He also “could’ve killed somebody” during the 2015 offending, the judge added.
The spree began in Toowoomba and took in areas around Gatton and the Lockyer Valley, involving at various stages, assault, fraud, obstructing police and wilful damage.
A police officer who tried approaching the stolen Subaru had to leap out the way when Hill refused to stop.
It was now up to Hill to choose the “good life or the bad life”, Judge Smith said during sentencing.
“If you take a bad path, you just go to jail for many years... probably won’t live long either,” he told the 26-year-old.
The judge said there was “no point” for Hill to use drugs again and end up back in the dock.
Despite a stable childhood, drug use and the loss of employment had “aggravated” the young man’s mental health problems, the court heard.
But Hill had made efforts to work while in custody, and was keeping active playing touch football.
His parents also came to court to support him. “You’re lucky. Some people don’t have any support,” the judge said.
Hill was on a suspended sentence at the time of the car theft, after a conviction in Ipswich.
For the latest offending, he was jailed for 33 months. But he had already served 229 days in custody so was eligible for parole immediately.
“Like the judge said, he was in bad company, I suppose getting mixed up in bad company,” his father Lance Hill said outside court.
Mr Hill had offered to try to arrange a job for his son in Cherbourg.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” his mother Elaine Georgetown said of sentencing.
“We know he did wrong. Not like some other parents. They live in denial.”
The parents agreed drugs had been a bad influence, and said the judge’s comments helped their son realise some of his errors.
Like the judge said, he was in bad company, I suppose getting mixed up in bad company. — Father Lance Hill of his son Lance Andrew Hill