![Shane Whitall [right], and Shaun McDonald [left], enter Milton Local Court at a January court appearance.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/SXxisSeUazLQeUK4SswLry/690f3900-97aa-448d-968a-c45f3db48202.jpg/r0_0_1200_674_w576_h298_fmax.webp "Shane Whitall [right], and Shaun McDonald [left], enter Milton Local Court at a January court appearance.")
An Ulladulla man has been found guilty of dangerous driving and not stopping at a stop sign after a run-in with police in September 2017.
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Shane Whitall faced Milton Local Court on Thursday, July 19 after pleading not guilty to charges relating to his driving behaviour on South Street, Ulladulla on September 28, 2017.
Whitall is the son of Craig Whitall, who caused the fiery Princes Highway crash on Boxing Day which killed five people, including himself.
Magistrate Gabriel Fleming found the charges proven after hearing evidence from two police officers, Whitall and his passenger on the night, Shaun McDonald.
The 27-year-old came to the attention of police when he failed to come to a complete stop at the South Street and Princes Highway intersection, accelerating across the highway in front of a marked police wagon.
Police told the court they were on a patrol at 8.50pm during a school holiday period when they saw Whitall cross the Princes Highway from South Street “without attempting to stop”.
“You have to come to a complete stop to be certain there is no traffic coming up the highway,” Senior Constable Mark Willard said.
“You virtually can’t see south when heading through that intersection from east to west.
“If we [the police] were two seconds earlier, we would have collided with the car.”
Whitall argued he looked for headlights and slowed down but the magistrate was not convinced.
He previously pleaded guilty to driving unlicensed, and driving an unregistered and uninsured car at the time of the offence.
In court on Thursday, Whitall didn’t deny he was not licensed at the time of the offence, and said had only ever held a learner’s licence.
Magistrate Fleming adjourned the matter to August 16 for sentencing while Whitall promised he would check into rehab on Tuesday, July 24.
“I’m done, after this I won’t be seeing you ever again, I can promise you that,” he told the magistrate.
“I will come back [from rehab] and start trying to get a job. I need to fix the life I’ve got and make the right choices.”
Whitall told the court he had entered a drug detox program in February, however relapsed just one week after completing the course.
Emily Barton
Emily Barton is a Producer at The Canberra Times.
Emily Barton is a Producer at The Canberra Times.
