On Wednesday, Paulo Duarte De Sousa Viera narrowly avoided a prison term – but Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris issued a stark warning that motorists travelling at ‘obscene’ speeds are endangering lives and could face prison sentences.
The warning was made following a spate of speeding offences in the Magistrate’s Court and comes as one Centenier in St Ouen said he had clocked a driver travelling at 120mph.
Viera (22), of Route du Fort, was ordered to carry out 150 hours’ community service instead of serving a nine-month jail term after being caught driving an Audi at 85mph in a 40mph zone on Rue du Huquet in St Martin.
Mr Harris said: ‘This driving was obscene, and you had three passengers in the car with you.
‘If there was a person or an animal in the road there could have been a fatal consequence.
‘Roads in this Island are not to be used as race tracks.
‘It is my overwhelming wish that young men, anyone really, who drive at ridiculously high speeds, that they stop doing so, the consequences for them could prove to be fatal.
‘I want people to get the message and for it to be very clear, anybody doing these speeds will risk going to prison.’
Centenier Gordon Jones, prosecuting, explained that at around 9pm on 20 April three members of the Honorary Police were out on patrol in the parish.
A short while later they could hear people driving at speed and an Audi car came along Rue du Huquet followed by another car, with 85mph clocked on the speed gun.
Advocate Adam Harrison, defending said his client appreciated that he was at risk of going to prison, and accepted the facts and was remorseful.
He said his client was clear it would not happen again in the future, and Mr Harrison urged the Assistant Magistrate not to impose immediate custody.
The apprentice carpenter was given a two-year driving ban and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Mr Harris added: ‘I hope this message will go to other people that if they do something similar, they run the risk of going to prison.’
