A DRIVER who crashed into a school crossing sign after performing burnouts in Flora Hill has been jailed for three months.
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The man appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to charges including dangerous driving, theft, and breaching a family violence intervention order.
The court heard at noon on December 15 last year, the man was drinking alcohol at the house of a woman who had an intervention order against him.
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About two hours later, the man had an argument with the woman, pushing her and striking her to the right side of her jaw.
The man then got into his car and performed dangerous burnouts out the front of the woman's house.
The court heard the man drove to Ellis Street in Flora Hill where he continued to perform burnouts and crashed into a school crossing sign.
He then left the street, returning to the woman's home where he continued to perform more burnouts. Police arrived at the address and tried to arrest the man but he resisted.
Officers eventually handcuffed and searched the man. The court heard police found the keys to the car in his pocket, along with 0.9 grams of a green vegetable matter, believed to be cannabis.
The court heard the man twice refused a preliminary breath test. He complied with an oral fluid test, which returned a positive result.
The man was arrested and taken to the Bendigo Police Station for questioning where he denied the offending.
The man on Monday also pleaded guilty to stealing petrol from a Bendigo service station in May last year.
Defence lawyer Robert Timms told the court his client had already served 33 days in pre-sentence detention.
Mr Timms said the man had been tentatively diagnosed with bipolar disorder and been withdrawing from alcohol while in custody.
Magistrate Rodney Higgins convicted and sentenced the man to three months in jail and his licence was disqualified for four years.
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