Crim under influence gets parole

A MAN drove a stolen car into a police officer before driving off recklessly and crashing into a roundabout at Ingham, a Townsville court heard yesterday.

Troy Edwin Ling, 26, then attempted to carjack four different motorists, telling one, “I’ve got a gun, get out”.

He jumped on the bonnet of one of the victims’ cars, causing $ 1761 worth of damage.

Ling pleaded guilty in Townsville District Court to 40 crimes including dangerous driving, two counts of assault causing bodily harm, five counts of entering or attempting to enter a vehicle and burglary.

Judge Gregory Lynham said during the ice and alcohol- fuelled crime spree on January 7 last year, Ling ended up inside an Ingham couple’s home.

The husband arrived home to see Ling in his loungeroom.

“He asked you what you were doing in the house and you started rambling about police chasing you, that you hit a policeman so you had to leave Ingham,” the judge said.

“( He) was trying to get you out of the house but you wouldn’t leave, you kept screaming and rambling and you laid down on their couch … you left blood all over the couch.”

Shortly after, Ling jumped a fence and was arrested.

The white Hyundai he had been driving, worth $ 27,000 and stolen from a Brisbane home two months prior, was a write- off.

Defence barrister Claire Grant said Ling had a difficult upbringing and spent more than eight years in jail since he was 17.

Judge Lynham sentenced him to three years in jail.

He will be released on parole today.