Geraldton car chase driver denied request to farewell daughter

A Geraldton dad was denied his request to see his young daughter “just one more time” before he was led off to prison for six months. Jake Jethro Gibson, 24, was jailed on May 21 for leading Geraldton police on a high-speed chase then abandoning his car in sand dunes and reporting it stolen the next morning. When Magistrate Chris Miocevich handed down the sentence — which also included a four-year loss of licence — Gibson asked if he could say goodbye to his daughter. However, Mr Miocevich denied the request, saying it would be against court protocol. Gibson pleaded guilty in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court to reckless driving to escape police pursuit — an offence that carries mandatory imprisonment — as well as failing to stop in circumstances of aggravation and creating false belief. Police gave chase after seeing Gibson driving his red Mazda ute at speed on Crowtherton Street in Bluff Point, about 9.50pm on March 10. During the pursuit he reached speeds of 95km/h in a 60km/h zone, leading police north along Chapman Road before weaving through residential streets in Sunset Beach. Police called off the chase after he drove on to sand dunes off Outrigger Esplanade and continued north towards Drummond Cove. At about 1pm the next day Gibson phoned police and told them he had found his vehicle abandoned in sand dunes about 20km north of Geraldton. He was arrested at the scene and later granted bail. Defence lawyer Eva Svanberg said Gibson had been drinking before he got behind the wheel and “panicked” when police activated their sirens. “He knows that’s no excuse for what he did ... (but) the driving itself was perhaps towards the lower end of reckless driving,” she said. Mr Miocevich imposed the minimum sentence, noting Gibson had a previous conviction for reckless driving but no criminal record otherwise. “Mr Gibson, there’s mandatory minimum imprisonment involved,” he said. “The reason for that is to try and get the message to people that if you hop in a car and you try and evade people in a reckless manner, you will receive terms of imprisonment. “Then, hopefully, people will get the message: you just have to stop, pull over and deal with it.”