A MAN told police his car had been stolen so he would not get into trouble with his dad for a car crash.
Jett Cockman (20) pleaded guilty to falsely reporting a vehicle stolen to police and providing false statements under oath to police when he appeared in Mandurah Magistrates Court today .
Police prosecutor Neville Palmer said the FIFO worker crashed his car on Old Coast Road in Halls Head on October 5, 2017.
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READ NOWCockman called police who attended the crash and found minor damage to the car.
Cockman initially told police in a recorded phone call the car was stolen from his home address. Police investigated the incident at the time and found the car wasn’t stolen.
Police spoke to Cockman in regards to the theft of the vehicle on October 12, 2017 and Cockman signed a form stating the vehicle had been stolen, providing false information to the police.
Defence lawyer Michelle Cox said Cockman was a “silly young man” who had “panicked”.
“When this happened, he [Cockman] didn’t want to own up to his dad,” she said.
“He [Cockman] has a grasp of what he’s done.”
Ms Cox said Cockman’s actions had a “snowball effect”.
“One silly decision led to another silly decision,” she said.
Cockman was in the process of paying for the car damage.
Magistrate Anne Longden said Cockman’s offences were “really serious”.
“You [Cockman] made voluntarily admissions to counsel and then contacted police and came clean,” she said.
“These offences are too serious to be dealt with by fine.”
Magistrate Longden sentenced Cockman with a nine-month community based order and 100 hours of community work.
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