A Sydney property developer who was caught driving his Ferrari at 204km/h outside Goulburn has been banned from getting behind the wheel for two years.
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Brett Allan Sutcliffe, 41, appeared in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday (August 10) where he pled guilty to one charge of driving recklessly/furiously or speed/manner dangerous and a charge of using an unregistered vehicle.
Police documents tendered to the court showed that Sutcliffe was travelling south in a white Ferrari on the Hume Highway on June 3 2022.
At 7.30am police received a complaint from a member of the public in relation to several 'luxury high performance' vehicles driving in a 'dangerous' manner on the highway.
Ten minutes later, police had positioned themselves at the South Goulburn exit where they recorded a white Ferrari travelling at 204km/h in a 110km/h zone.
The court was told that after signaling the car to pull over, police asked the occupant, Sutcliffe, why he thought he'd been pulled over to which he responded, "yeah probably my speed."
A search revealed the vehicle's registration had also expired on May 24 2022.
Lawyer Martin Zanola told the court his client had a "moment of weakness" when exceeding the speed limit and that "temptation had gotten the better of him."
He spoke of Sutcliffe, who works as a property developer, as a "true pillar of the community" and referenced his numerous charitable activities, which include volunteering as a pilot.
In relation to the unregistered charge, he said Sutcliffe had purchased the car from a dealership a month prior to the offence and had believed the registration still had five months remaining.
"He understands the risk he has put the community in," Zanola said in his final submission.
Magistrate Geraldine Beattie was blunt in handing down her verdict.
She referenced an apology letter submitted by Sutcliffe saying "thoughtless, selfish and shortsighted is how you described your actions."
"The submission that it was a momentary weakness, I do not accept. It was a deliberate decision by you.
"My other role is as a coroner. A lot of my work deals with highway trauma and there are too many of them.
"Despite lots of media attention when that happens, despite widespread advertising, people are still doing it, including you.
"If anything went wrong, if a vehicle changed lanes or if there was debris on the road, there is no way your brain would pick that up fast enough to tell your hands and feet to fix the problem.
"Our roads aren't built for 204km/h."
Sutcliffe was handed a 22-month Community Corrections Order, fined $1700 and disqualified from driving for two years for the driving offence and fined $600 for the unregistered offence.
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