Police ‘runner’ back in custody

THOUGH he initially made good his escape, it wasn’t long before would-be fugitive Tye Craig Hutchin was returned to police custody.

Hutchin had been due to appear in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on August 18 but had been granted bail on strict conditions including abstaining from alcohol and to have a breath/alcohol reading of zero when randomly checked by police.

However, when police came across him on a Newtown footpath just before midnight Tuesday, his breath smelt of liquor, police prosecutor Sergeant Mike Robinson told the court yesterday.

After a roadside breath test returned a breath/alcohol reading of 0.178, Hutchin did a runner and a foot chase ensued on Anzac Ave.

Ignoring calls from police to stop, Hutchin had jumped a number of house fences as he fled and police eventually gave up the chase.

Police who attended a Greenwattle St home about 11am Wednesday found Hutchin hiding under a bed and he was arrested.

He told police he had run because he assumed he would be going to jail and wanted to say goodbye to his family first, Sgt Robinson said.

Having spent two nights in the watch house, the 21-year-old appeared in custody before the court to plead guilty to four counts of trespassing arising from the residential yards he had run through, breaching bail and obstructing police.

Duty solicitor Claire Graham told the court her client had a de facto wife and two children and was unemployed at the moment.

Her client had a long-standing issue with alcohol but this was the first time since being placed on bail more than a year ago that he had breached his bail conditions by drinking.

Her client would be back before the court on August 18 to be sentenced for the matters for which he was on bail, she said.

Magistrate Graham Lee fined Hutchin a total $1100 which included a $100 fine for each house yard he had run through when fleeing police.