‘Maybe he likes going to jail?’ Magistrate asks after Rockingham man faces ninth driving conviction

A MAGISTRATE has pondered whether a man facing his ninth driving without a licence conviction ‘liked going to jail’.

Conrad Thomas Waikari pleaded guilty to breach of bail, driving with blood alcohol exceeding 0.02g and two charges of no authority to drive when he appeared at Rockingham Magistrates Court on April 1.

The police prosecutor said Waikari was driving without a licence and had an excess 0.02g alcohol reading when he was caught by police on January 13, 2018.

Waikari was caught driving without a licence again on March 1 this year.

The prosecutor said this would make it his ninth driving without a licence conviction and that Waikari had been to prison before for similar offences.

Magistrate Gregory Smith sentenced him to immediate prison.

“He knows how serious it is yet he keeps doing it. It does not make any sense to me,” he said.

“One wonders when he is going to learn; what will it take him to stop?

“He’s already been to jail. I don’t know; maybe he likes going to jail?”

“It seems to me, you (Waikari), you think you won’t get caught.”

He was sentenced to seven months prison, $900 in fines and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.