A driver involved in an early morning police chase through Huddersfield had taken his father’s car without permission.
Leeds Crown Court heard Raphael Hunte panicked when he was spotted by officers and knew he should not have been driving the Seat Leon and was also on licence after completing a 10 year sentence for attempted murder imposed in 2005 when he was only 17.
Georgina Goring, representing Hunte, said he had received a call in the early hours of the morning from the mother of his young daughter in Blackburn saying the youngster, who suffered from fits, was being taken to hospital.
His barrister said: “The defendant in his own words stupidly took the keys to his father’s car to try and get to the hospital to be with his daughter.”
Heather Gilmore, prosecuting, said the attention of two officers was drawn to the car in the early hours of November 12 when they saw it at a roundabout and noticed the driver suddenly accelerated away.
They decided to follow and Hunte reached speeds up to 70mph as he raced through residential streets in Deighton, Bradley, Fartown and Brackenhall in an attempt to escape them.
The pursuit, which saw the force’s helicopter scrambled, only ended when Hunte lost control as he tried to turn into Sherwood Avenue, colliding with two parked cars.
He jumped out of the vehicle and the officers gave chase. He was arrested after the helicopter’s infra-red camera was used to track him.
Miss Gilmore said Hunte’s father, Trevor, had left the car parked outside his home and the keys either in his jacket or on a coffee table when he went to bed. He was then told at 9am the next morning about the collision and that his son had been arrested.
Hunte, 30 of Chestnut Street, Deighton, admitted aggravated vehicle taking and having no insurance. He was given an eight month prison sentence suspended for two years with 250 hours unpaid work and a four month curfew from 8pm to 6am. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Recorder Simon Jackson QC said having been released on licence 18 months ago he had committed the recent offences which “involved you in panic trying to escape from the police and driving dangerously for several minutes.”
But he had been co-operating with the probation service while on licence and had expressed remorse for his actions that night which meant the sentence could be suspended.
* In December 2005 Hunte was convicted of shooting a nightclub doorman at Gilly’s nightclub in Bradford. The victim had a lucky escape when a bullet aimed at his chest lodged in a hand he had put up to protect himself. He was given a 10-year jail term.
The trial had been told that Hunte had felt humiliated when door staff had refused to let him into the club because he was wearing a hooded top. He then, in a moment of rage, produced the gun and tried to kill Mr Ahmed.
