Matthew Andrew Clarke, 43, changed his plea and admitted driving without due care and attention at Elm Grove, St Peter Port, which had caused an accident in December 2023.
The court was told that he had driven his Ford pick-up truck through the red traffic lights at 11.45pm. The road was wet at the time. He collided with a Subaru Impreza that was heading towards Candie Road and both vehicles were substantially damaged. Two witnesses said the defendant had driven through red traffic lights.
Clarke told officers that his brakes had failed and said he could not remember what colour the lights had been. In interview later he retracted his comment about the brakes failing and said the other vehicle had driven into him.
A date for trial was set on three occasions but it was unable to go ahead.
In October last year, officers were called to Les Baissieres to deal with an incident that had begun in Town and moved to various locations. When officers went to a property to look for Clarke, they saw him in a vehicle opposite. When an officer tried to take his arm he pulled it away and at one point tried to grab handcuffs that the officer was holding. The handcuffs were applied after he had been threatened with the use of pava incapacitating spray.
Clarke admitted resisting police officers in the due execution of their duties and two counts of failing to surrender to court custody.
His record was littered with driving matters – the most recent from 2023 – but there were substantive matters too.
Defending, Advocate Paul Lockwood said his client had been in custody now for five weeks. He had left the island because of a mental health crisis and had now come back to face the music.
Judge Gary Perry said the defendant got very little credit for his guilty pleas as he had avoided justice for a considerable amount of time. He accepted what he had been told about the difficulties and struggles the defendant had faced and said the sentence he would impose would give him the opportunity to address his issues.
A prison sentence of one month was imposed for resisting police and two months on each count of failing to surrender to court custody.
Sentences were consecutive, which took the total to five months, but all were suspended for two years.
A suspended sentence supervision order was meted for 12 months. For driving without due care and attention, his licence was suspended for six months.