A SERIAL offender with an “atrocious” criminal history has again been jailed after he attempted to enter a woman’s car while she was refuelling at a Townsville service station.
Frank James Bowman Shepard faced the Townsville Magistrates Court from prison and pleaded guilty to 11 serious offences including attempt to unlawfully enter a vehicle, evasion, obstruct police, driving without a licence, driving unregistered, uninsured and with number plates suspected of being stolen.
He further pleaded guilty to several drug offences including possessing property suspected of being used in connection with the commission of a drug offence and possessing utensils or pipes for use.
The court heard Shepard came to the attention of police on December 28, 2020 when at 8am he drove off without paying for $26.90 of diesel that a passenger pumped in his car at a Condon Caltex.
Three hours later at 11.15am police attempted to intercept Shepard’s vehicle and at one point were “nose to nose”.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Erin Collis said police blocked the path of Shepard’s vehicle and could clearly see him inside.
Sen-Constable Collis said police activated their lights and sirens, but Shepard reversed away from them and over a footpath on Riverway Dr.
It came to police attention that the car the father-to-be was driving was unregistered, uninsured and displaying stolen number plates and Shepard was also not the holder of a licence.
Three hours later at 2.15pm police found the car Shepard had been driving abandoned at a property in Cranbrook.
The court heard when police cited Shepard, he climbed a fence and ran away from them along Ross River Road to a fuel station where he attempted to enter a woman’s car.
Sen-Constable Collis said the woman was refuelling and screamed when Shepard attempted to gain entry to the vehicle before he again ran from the scene.
The court heard police gave chase and he was arrested.
Police also located a glass pipe and clip seal bags containing crystal residue inside a glasses case in the car.
Shepard’s lawyer, Zoe Navarro said her client was on parole when he committed the offences and was not “coping with the stress of being in the community” and started using drugs.
Ms Navaro said Shepard was at risk of “becoming institutionalised” if he were to spend any more time behind bars.
She said Shepard’s partner was also due to give birth to his first child in September.
Magistrate Steven Mosch said Shepard had an “atrocious” criminal history of 14-pages dating back to 2011.
He sentenced Shepard to 12 months imprisonment for evading police, and a further six months for unlawful entry of a vehicle.
Shepard was handed a further one month for obstructing police and an additional month for unlawful possession of stolen property.
He was convicted and not further punished for the drug offences.
Shepard will be eligible for parole on July 28.
Extracted from Townsville Bulletin