Plunge driver walks

Alex de Vos
A 20-year-old Leopold man who seriously injured two passenger when he drove his car off a cliff has walked free from Geelong Magistrates’ Court.
Samuel Giles faced court on Wednesday charged with six offences including driving in a dangerous manner causing serious injury, reckless conduct and negligent driving.
Police Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Geoff Lamb told the court Giles had been driving an unroadworthy vehicle when his car ploughed 50 metres off a cliff at the end of Jetty Road in Clifton Springs.
Mr Lamb said the defendant was on his way to a friend’s house in the early hours of August 30, 2008, when they stopped for a rest out the front of Clifton Springs’ Jetty Road shops.
Mr Lamb told the court Giles had fallen asleep and woke to find his car windows fogged up, impairing his vision of the road.
The defendant proceeded to drive the vehicle 400 metres through a gravel car park, across a wooden bollard and over the cliff, Mr Lamb said.
Giles and his two friends, Brenton Taylor and Kyle Murphy, were rushed to Geelong Hospital with a range of serious injuries including a broken arm and collarbone, spinal damage, swelling to the head and whiplash.
The passengers remained in hospital under close surveillance for up to seven days, Mr Lamb said.
Police later interviewed Giles who gave a full “recollection of the incident” despite telling his doctor he could not remember anything.
“Asked why (he drove over the cliff), he said he was 99 per cent sure it was because of the foggy windows,” Mr Lamb said.
“Asked ‘Do you think you put (your friends) at risk?’ and he said yes. When asked by police what the safer option would have been and he said to pull over and wait until it’s clear – he agreed it was negligent to drive.”
But Giles denied responsibility, telling the court he had agreed with police “to keep them happy” and because he “wanted to get out of the interview”.
Giles said he was diagnosed with non-convulsive epilepsy after the accident, leading him to believe he suffered a “fit” that made him to run off the road and over the face of the cliff.
Magistrate Jon Klestadt dismissed the charges of dangerous, reckless and negligent driving, saying he was “not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt” the accident was the direct cause of the defendant’s conscious actions.
However, Magistrate Klestadt found Giles guilty of driving a vehicle in breach of a defect notice. He fined Giles fined $650 and suspended his license for one month.