Police & Court

‘You have to obey the rules’: magistrate

By Grace Carter

Jun 20, 2024

A Shepparton learner driver has faced court. Photo by Rodney Braithwaite

A learner driver who was caught driving alone without L-plates has faced court.

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Dion Mala, 24, from Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to being a learner driver and driving without a supervising driver, and not displaying L-plates.

Police pulled Mala over at a breath-testing site in Kialla while he was driving on January 26.

Prosecutor Robyn Lindsay said the learner driver was alone in the car and didn’t have L-plates on the front or back of the vehicle.

When police asked him why there was no-one in the front seat, Mala said “they went to work”, and when they asked him why there were no L-plates on the vehicle, he said he “forgot”, Ms Lindsay said.

Representing himself in court, Mala said he was “going to see friends” and there was “no-one to go with me”.

Magistrate Simon Zebrowski told Mala “you have to obey the rules”.

“You can’t go to see friends if you don’t have a licence,” he said.

“Don’t do it again; next time I’ll take your licence off you.”

Mala was fined $300 without conviction.