A HOPETOUN man has been sentenced to two months in jail after he continued to drive with a disqualified licence.
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Damien Revell appeared in Horsham Magistrates' Court on Monday, where he pleaded guilty to a number of driving offences including multiple counts of driving while disqualified, speeding, driving an unregistered vehicle and having an unroadworthy trailer.
He also pleaded guilty to failing to answer bail and contravening a community corrections order.
The court heard that police detected Revell driving at 114 kilometres an hour on the Henty Highway at Rosebery on April 14 last year.
The speed limit is 100 kilometres an hour.
Revell's driver's licence was disqualified at the time and his car had no number plates because it wasn't registered.
Revell told police that he was going to help a friend who had run out of fuel.
The court heard that Revell was again caught driving while disqualified on October 24.
Police intercepted him on the Sunraysia Highway at Moyreisk.
He was also towing a tandem-axle trailer that was unregistered and unroadworthy. The trailer's lights did not work.
He told police at the time that he was taking the trailer to get a roadworthy certificate.
On May 20, Revell failed to appear in Horsham Magistrates' Court.
Revell was on a community corrections order at the time of the offending, for previous driving offences.
He failed to complete the community work as part of the order.
Revell told the court that because he lived in Hopetoun and he didn't have a driver's licence, he had no way of getting to Horsham to complete the community work.
Magistrate Andrew McKenna said the only option for Revell was jail.
"I understand getting to Horsham is difficult, but surely someone could have given you a lift, or you could have hitchhiked," he said.
"Your history is not a good one - you have six driving while disqualified offences.
"I understand that people in the country do it tough when they lose their licence, but there comes a time where leniency has to stop.
"It's tough living in a remote part of Victoria but you just can't drive under any circumstances."
Mr McKenna sentenced Revell to two months in jail and fined him $2400.
Revell appealed the jail sentence and was released on bail.
He was face Horsham County Court at a later date.
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