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dundee: Driving on pavement led to school pupils being forced on road, court told

A driver who travelled at speed for 300 yards along a pavement outside a school, causing pupils to run into the middle of a busy road, has been jailed at Dundee Sheriff Court.

The court heard Geoffrey Goto was trying to escape from police who had pulled him over on the city’s Lawton Road.

The unlicensed and uninsured driver had been spotted by a policeman who was involved in an earlier incident with him.

Goto, 31, of Hoylake Place, Dundee, denied 12 charges on indictment including two of dangerous driving – one committed on January 9 last year and the other on June 6 – as well as one of police assault, one of resisting arrest and eight other road traffic offences.

A jury found him guilty of all 12 charges.

Sheriff George Way jailed him for 15 months and banned him from the road for five years.

Depute-fiscal Eilidh Robertson said: “He drove in a horrendously unsafe fashion. It was only through sheer luck that no one was injured or even worse.”

The court heard that in the school incident Goto’s car and description had been circulated by an officer who saw him nearby.

PC Sean Petrie, 25, said they then spotted Goto’s Ford Fiesta outside the temporary site of Harris Academy in Lawton Road.

He said: “We pulled in front of him to stop him and I got out to go to his door.

“As I approached he began to reverse backwards. There was a lollipop man helping children cross in the middle of the road and he stopped just short of him.

“He then mounted the pavement. He travelled along it for about 300 yards towards the junction with Byron Street.

“There were parked cars on that side of the road so he was fully on the pavement. On the other side of the pavement was the gates of the school playground.

“It was a sharp acceleration – he was going quick. There were children about and I saw a group of four schoolchildren walking towards his direction who had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.”

Almost six months earlier Goto had been pulled over in Macalpine Road after peeling out of a parking area at speed with no lights on in the dark.

The court heard police pulled him over but he reversed away going around a roundabout backwards before driving off at a speed so fast that officers had to abandon their pursuit on safety grounds.

Two officers said they got a clear look at Goto and identified him as the driver.

Defence solicitor Paul Parker Smith asked PC Darren Smith, 42: “This is a dark-skinned gentleman. It was dark – only street lighting – and your car’s blue lights were flashing. These were not ideal conditions – you couldn’t have picked out his features?”

PC Smith said: “I am clear, he was the driver.”

It was only through sheer luck that no one was injured or even worse. DEPUTE-FISCAL EILIDH ROBERTSON

Geoffrey Goto: jailed for 15 months and banned from the road for five years.