Two teenagers have been convicted and fined in the St. John’s Magistrates’ Court for similar offences, including driving without a license.
Rick Weatherill, 18, of Hatton and Dante Matthias, also 18, pleaded guilty to a number of traffic offences before Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh.
Weatherill was charged for driving without a licence and dangerous driving – after he led the Police on a high speed chase – and driving without insurance.
He was fined $3,000 for the latter offence, with an alternative sentence of three months in prison. On the dangerous driving charge, Weatherill has to pay $2,500 to the court or face a six-month prison term.
The teenager was reprimanded for not having a driver’s license, and the Court has ordered that he be barred for one year from obtaining one.
Weatherill led Police on a high-speed chase on October 27, while travelling in a rented Toyota Vitz on the All Saints Road.
Officers from the Joint Task Force Curfew Reinforcement Unit reportedly observed the vehicle being driven excessively above the speed limit, with the driver overtaking at least three vehicles in the process.
The lawmen signaled for the driver to stop, but he continued to drive at high speed, reportedly swerving in and out of traffic in his attempt to evade the officers. There were three persons in the vehicle at that time.
The vehicle was subsequently abandoned in a bushy area in Willikies and the occupants apparently fled on foot. However, after officers conducted a search of the vicinity, Weatherill was eventually picked up, taken into custody, and later charged.
Meanwhile, Matthias was convicted and fined $3,000 for driving without insurance. Alternatively, he will serve three months in prison, and has also been barred from obtaining a drivers’ license for one year.
For using threatening language against a police officer and for disorderly conduct, he was fined $300 or one month in prison on each count. He was also reprimanded and discharged for driving without a valid licence.
In the meantime, Shaquel Joseph, the person who rented the vehicle for Weatherill and Matthias, has been fined $6,000 for the offence of permitting to drive.
