A Shepparton man allegedly hid his number plates and an ice pipe in a bush after he crashed into another vehicle.

Joshua Dann, 27, unsuccessfully applied for bail in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.

He is charged with dangerous driving while pursued by police, fraudulently using registration plates, refusing an oral fluid test, driving while suspended, possessing a firearm while a prohibited person, committing affray by threatening to use unlawful violence, driving a vehicle without number plates, driving carelessly, failing to keep left, drug driving and not displaying P plates.

He is also charged with recklessly causing injury, assault of a female, two counts of contravening bail conditions and failing to give police information about a driver.

Shepparton Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Scott Begbie told the court Mr Dann swerved on to the wrong side of the road and crashed into a car in Wildwood, near Sunbury in Melbourne, on July 20 last year, injuring the other driver.

After the crash, Mr Dann removed the registration plates from his vehicle and hid them under a bush, along with an ice pipe, Det Sen Constable Begbie said.

Mr Dann told police at the time he had fallen asleep.

He also tested positive for methamphetamines in a drug test.

About six weeks later, on September 2 last year, Mr Dann got in a police chase in Shepparton that saw him drive on the wrong side of the road on Balaclava Rd, where he narrowly avoided a crash, Det Sen Constable Begbie said.

The chase was called off, and police found him 45 minutes later walking in Swallow St.

He refused a drug test, telling police “I wasn’t driving”, Det Sen Constable Begbie said.

The plates on the vehicle were found to be fake.

The court heard that a month later, while conducting a search warrant on unrelated matters, police found a video of Mr Dann on another person’s phone that showed him holding a gun while screaming, and then raising it and pointing it at someone outside.

The video was recorded in Tatura on September 2, 2024, in what police say was an Airbnb booked by Mr Dann’s NDIS worker.

When he was interviewed about the gun in November, Mr Dann told police he had thrown it in the Goulburn River, but it has never been recovered, Det Sen Constable Begbie said.

When questioned by Mr Dann’s solicitor John McNamara, Det Sen Constable Begbie agreed Mr Dann was terrified of people entering the property he was in.

In another incident on March 31, police allege Mr Dann choked a woman, and when he realised she was calling the police, held up garden secateurs to get her to end the call.

He then threw her on the ground and punched her several times in the head, and she had to be taken to hospital, Det Sen Constable Begbie said.

Mr McNamara argued his client should be bailed for a combination of reasons, including that he had a job to go to if he was bailed, he could live in Tatura, and that he wanted to go to his grandmother’s wake and grieve her death with his mother.

He also said Mr Dann could take part in the Court Integrated Services Program, his mother had given an undertaking to police she would report him if he “steps out of line”, and the magistrate could order he not be allowed to drive.

Magistrate Simon Zebrowski, however, said these reasons were not enough, and denied bail.

“His record on orders is spectacularly poor, and his behaviour is appalling,” Mr Zebrowski said.

“He is an absolute menace to the community.

“I’m sorry his grandmother died … but he’s in custody because of his appalling behaviour and offending.”

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Friday, 9th June 2023

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