A CAR doing late-night burnouts in a park in Kelso also hit one of the goal posts on the ground, police say.
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The owner of the car had left the keys with a group of people with the specific instructions that they shouldn't drive it while they were at the park.
Hayden Bridges, 25, of Jamieson Street, Albury, was in Bathurst Local Court on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, having previously pleaded guilty to being carried in a conveyance taken without the consent of the owner.
Police documents before the court said Bridges, the victim in the matter and other people were socialising and drinking at a home near Kelso's Bell Park when a co-accused was given the keys to a Hyundai Getz with consent.
The victim is the registered owner of the Hyundai Getz.
The victim expressly informed everyone that no-one was allowed to drive the vehicle while they were at Bell Park, according to the police documents.
The parties had all travelled in the car together earlier that day.
Police said they were contacted at about 11.50pm about a vehicle doing burnouts in Bell Park off McMenamin Place.
Information received suggested the vehicle had collided with a goal post on the field and had stopped in Rivett Place, according to the police documents.
Police said they went to Rivett Place and found the Hyundai Getz stopped on the nature strip immediately above Bell Park.
The co-accused was in the driver's seat and Bridges was in the front passenger seat.
Police said they spoke with Bridges and the co-accused, who originally denied driving the vehicle, but soon admitted to police about doing a burnout on the field, then skidding into the goal post while trying to avoid an unknown person.
As police made inquiries about the vehicle, the co-accused said he got the vehicle from a friend, according to the police documents.
Bridges was given a direction to leave the area due to his behaviour.
A short time later, the victim attended the scene and told police that her car had been stolen.
The victim provided police with a statement confirming this, according to the police documents.
The co-accused was removed from the vehicle, arrested, cautioned and searched.
A short time later, Bridges re-attended the scene and was arrested, cautioned and searched, according to the police documents.
Police said Bridges told them that they were given permission to have the keys, but not permission to take the car.
Bridges and the co-accused were taken to Bathurst Police Station.
In court
Bridges was represented by solicitor Georgia Lundie from the Aboriginal Legal Service, who said a plea had previously been entered and was being confirmed.
Ms Lundie asked the court to note that the victim in the matter was in court supporting her client.
She said her client's actions on the night were "entirely unacceptable", but said the court would be able to see there is "still a good relationship with the victim in this matter".
Bridges is paying money owed to the victim, Ms Lundie said.
She said the offence was aggravated by the fact Bridges was on parole at the time, but said it was her submission that the Section 5 threshold (where there is no alternative to jail) was not crossed.
Her instructions were that Bridges was engaging well with Probation and Parole, Ms Lundie said.
Magistrate Gemma Slack-Smith said she agreed with police prosecutor Sergeant Aaron Burgess that Bridges' offence fell to the "lower end of objective seriousness".
She noted that Bridges was not the driver, but said his matter was aggravated by the fact he was on parole and said she accepted the submissions from the bar table that Bridges was "engaging well with Probation and Parole".
Ms Slack-Smith convicted Bridges and fined him $800.
