Man jailed over ‘outrageous’ high-speed car chases

A driver has been jailed for 14 months and fined $1800 over a series of high-speed police car chases through Geraldton, described by a magistrate as “an absolute outrage”.

Magistrate Donna Webb said it was miracle nobody was killed when Hakaraia Te Waru Goulton, 18, got behind the wheel on February 26 and 27.

Goulton appeared in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court last week charged with three counts of driving on fine suspension, three counts of aggravated failure to stop, three counts of driving recklessly to escape pursuit and one count of driving with an illicit drug in oral fluid.

Goulton was on amphetamines when the first chase began at 11.15am on a Friday morning.

Police began a pursuit of Goulton’s vehicle along Shenton Street and onto Cathedral Avenue, but had to call it off when it was deemed to dangerous to continue due to the risk of hitting another vehicle or pedestrian.

Goulton drove through red lights and reached speeds of 140km/h in the 60km/h zone along North West Coastal Highway.

Once Goulton had escaped, he returned just 10 minutes later, coming up behind police and overtaking them at speed to start another chase.

The following day Goulton started a third chase along Edward Street at 3.25pm.

Ms Webb said driving “doesn’t get more dangerous than this”, as Goulton sped “basically through the centre of town” past sports clubs, schools and other community facilities.

“This is an absolute outrage, it’s a miracle no one was killed,” she said.

“Even if it wasn’t a mandatory sentence I’d be looking at a considerable term of imprisonment.”

She said Goulton had come from a good family and his fall into meth addiction was “truly tragic”.