Highway car chase drama

Man jailed for string of offences

THE driver who led police on a “prolonged” chase in a stolen cop car for more than 100km at breakneck speeds of up to 170km/h before ploughing through the grounds at Lavarack Barracks will serve time behind bars.

Thirty-two-year-old John Van Eerde on Tuesday pleaded guilty from custody to a string of 16 charges – all from the same slew of offending that began in the early hours of August 3.

Charges included trespass on Commonwealth land, and dangerous operation of a vehicle while adversely affected while excessively speeding.

Police prosecutor Jordan Theed told the court that Van Eerde’s offending began at 1.17am at the Deeragun Police Station – where Van Eerde tried to break into four officers’ private cars.

And while he wasn’t successful at breaking into their cars, he did get into three marked police cars.

Van Eerde broke into the station, stole keys to a police “escort” car and a high-visibility police jacket.

At 2.37am, Van Eerde was spotted and police began to follow him.

He drove up to 140km/h in an 80km/h zone along the Ring Rd towards Ayr, with police cars following – until turning around at Brandon and driving back north to Townsville.

Van Eerde’s tyres were deflated near the Alligator Creek bridge, but he still drove at speeds of 125km/h “effectively on the rims”.

At 4.30am, he collided with a police car on University Drive, and drove through the boom gates at Lavarack Barracks and onto the parade grounds.

Van Eerde was arrested only after he crashed into a second police car, and officers found less than a gram of meth in the car. A test recorded Van Eerde was on ice at the time.

Mr Theed said Van Eerde had been disqualified from driving at the time.

Defence lawyer Michael Breneger said his client had started taking ice six years ago.

He said Van Eerde had felt “restricted” after being disqualified from driving for two years, and that feeling of being “confined to a room” had led to his offending.

Magistrate Viviana Keegan said it was lucky Van Eerde had not injured or killed someone either on the motorway or after ploughing through the gates at Lavarack Barracks.

Van Eerde was sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail, with 49 days presentence custody taken into account.

He was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay $250 and given a parole release date of May 23, 2022.