A CHINESE national whose mother falsified documents when he was four years-old to further his education in China will fight a charge of allegedly giving police and the court the wrong name in Bendigo.
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The man in his 20s has been charged with perverting the course of justice after police pulled him over for speeding in Bendigo in January.
He argues he gave police his birth name, which was different to the name displayed on his Chinese driver’s licence.
He was sentenced and fined for the speeding offence in court, and allegedly continued using his birth name which resulted in the extra charge when police noticed the discrepancy.
He continued to use the name given to him as a four-year-old on official documents.
The court heard the man was born in China, but his mother changed his name when he was four to get him into a better level of education, given the “competitiveness” of schooling in China.
The man then came to Australia 12 years later, but became confused as to which name to use when confronted by police and the courts, and chose his birth name.
The man has never held an Australian driver’s licence because he “couldn’t pass the test”, he told the magistrate during his earlier proceedings.
Magistrate John Murphy said there was a question of whether the charge could be contempt of court because he continued to use the “false” name in front of a magistrate, but Mr Murphy was reluctant to pursue that course.
“I’ve had a bad run of contempt of court cases, it’s very difficult for a magistrate to get up on it,” he said.
“I had a Biro thrown at my head for it once.
“A jug as well.”
The man was not under oath during the earlier court proceedings when he used the birth name so he could not be charged with perjury, the court heard.
He will continue to contest the perverting the course of justice charge in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court later this year.