A Dubbo man who was a passenger in a stolen vehicle which didn't pay for fuel, was wanted by police for punching his mother and telling her not to attend court.
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Eric Edwards appeared via audio-visual link from custody pleading guilty to a string of charges including dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and knowingly be carried in a stolen vehicle.
The 25-year-old was a passenger in a stolen Kia Rio which drove to the BP service station on the Mitchell Highway in Narromine about 8.15am on April 24 this year.
Police said Edwards got out of the vehicle and putting $10.10 worth of unleaded petrol in the car.
A co-accused entered the service station and after continuous requests for payment from a worker he returned to the Kia and drove away.
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At around 8:45am, police were patrolling Narromine following reports that a co-accused was driving the Kia Rio, which police were aware had been stolen the day prior.
A police pursuit began with the co-accused driving the vehicle "well in excess" of the speed limit, crossing into the oncoming lane and turning into other streets.
Officers continued the pursuit going through dirt roads with the stolen vehicle reaching speeds of at least 120km/h in an 80km/h speed zone.
Due to the speed of the vehicle, police aborted the pursuit after following onto a dirt lane with "large plumes of billowing dust" disrupting the officers' vision.
The stolen vehicle was later located in a laneway, with police receiving information Edwards and the two co-accused were seen running into a house on Cathundril Street.
Officers attended the address and spoke to the three men. They were then arrested and taken to Dubbo Police Station, where Edwards admitted he was a passenger in the vehicle and told the driver where to go and hide the stolen car.
At the time of Edwards' arrest, he was wanted in relation to separate matters which were brought before the court on Wednesday.
He pleaded guilty to contravening an apprehended domestic violence order (AVO) on March 9 this year after police imposed a provisional apprehended violence order on Edwards for an assault on his mother on January 23 this year.
Edwards was at his mother's house when he was having an argument with his girlfriend and attempted to drag her into a room.
His mother heard the commotion and went to check on the woman, and with a small stick hit Edwards.
Edwards turned around and pushed his mother causing her to fall backwards, before police said he began "punching into her like a man".
Police attended a short time later when Edwards was arrested and taken to Narromine police station.
Edwards was due to appear in court on March 10 this year, however the day before he told his mother not to go to court telling her he "won't get charged" if she didn't turn up.
His mother told police Edwards spoke with his solicitor on the phone and later told her that they said the same thing.
Court documents said Edwards was charged for breaching the AVO for speaking with his mother and being within 50 metres of her home.
He was also charged with acting with intent to influence a witness and failing to appear in court without a reasonable excuse, which he pleaded guilty to on Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Bill Dickens argued that "some" of the matters didn't cross the section five threshold and that it was not of "such seriousness" that he should spend more time in prison.
The court heard Edwards had had his parole revoked and been in custody since April 24, and would have been eligible to be released on August 24.
Mr Dickens asked the court to consider he maintain this release date and impose a community corrections order as Edwards would be under strict supervision with parole.
While Magistrate Stephen Olischlager accepted some of the matters were at the low end of objective seriousness, he said Edwards' attempt to talk his mother our of attending court was "thwarting justice".
"Any attempt to try and talk a witness out of attending court is a serious matter," he said.
Magistrate Olischlager said it was an aggravating factor that Edwards was on parole at the time of the offending, and as a result had it revoked.
In sentencing he believed two of the matters crossed the section five threshold and there was no other option than a term of imprisonment.
With a finding of special circumstances Edwards was handed a 10-month term of imprisonment with a non-parole period of six months backdated to April.
Edwards will be eligible for release in October 2022.