Craig Elliott: Father-to-bes desperate bid to stay out of jail

A father-to-be is fighting to remain out of jail over a serious crash in southern Sydney while under the influence of a cocktail of drugs, a court has heard.

Craig Elliott, 27, was last year jailed over an accident at Woolooware which saw his partner and friend both hospitalised.

After pleading guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and causing bodily harm by misconduct, Elliott was sentenced by Magistrate Phillip Stewart to three years in jail with a 20-month non-parole period.

However he was immediately released on bail pending a District Court appeal, which on Tuesday was heard by Judge Warwick Hunt.

The court previously heard he crashed his car into a parked ute on the Kingsway at Woolooware on April 29 last year.

His friend, sitting in the back seat, suffered serious injuries and had to undergo lifesaving surgery while his girlfriend was hospitalised for four nights with a fractured spine and ribs.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of drug possession and later admitted to police to consuming methamphetamine, GBH and Xanax in the hours before the accident.

The court heard on Tuesday that at the time, Elliott was on a good behaviour bond for a similar accident.

Crown prosecutor Stephen Makin argued that Judge Hunt ought to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that Elliott represented a risk to the community.

“The Crown says given the history of the driving offences while affected by drugs, of colliding during offending, and as the most recent offending shows, causing serious injury to others, it represents something from which your honour would find there is a risk to community safety,” Mr Makin argued.

The court heard that Elliott’s partner - who was injured in the accident - was now pregnant and expecting the couple’s first child in the next fortnight.

She has supported Elliott throughout the ordeal along with his family, who were also present in court on Tuesday.

He has asked the court to be allowed to serve his sentence in the community to be able to support his family.

Elliott has claimed he has turned his life around and had undergone independent drug testing to prove he was on the straight and narrow, the court heard.

The court heard he was now employed and “vigilant” about being drug and alcohol free.

Judge Hunt adjourned the matter for three months for an application for the matter to be dealt with under section 11 of the Crimes Act which allows for him to be diverted to rehabilitation rather than sent to jail.

“We’ll see if Mr Elliott can keep his nose clean of drugs and other offences and if his best chance is serving his sentence in the community,” Judge Hunt said.

The matter will return to court in May.

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