Trent Robert Wright had already spent four months in Parklea prison as a result of several convictions for driving while disqualified and heroin possession, and he was appealing the severity of his sentence.

Judge Charteris said he had reviewed all the evidence of Wright’s previous court appearances and they did not bode well for his release from prison.

“If you had respect for the law you would be a licensed driver,” Judge Charteris said.

Wright’s poor driving history went back to 2005 when he was caught as a learner driver with no teacher in the passenger seat.

“The next year you were pulled up three times on a learner’s permit with no licensed driver. Other learner drivers don’t do this,” Judge Charteris said.

In 2007 Wright was caught riding a motorcycle with no helmet and in 2008 he was caught driving an unregistered and unlicensed vehicle when he had no driver’s licence.

After acquiring his provisional licence Wright was pulled over for not displaying his P-plates and was fined.

In 2012 he was fined $500 for having the wrong class of licence and in 2013 he came under police notice again when he was driving while suspended.

“Two months later you were driving whilst disqualified again,” Judge Charteris said.

After reading through a 13-page psychological report submitted to the court, Judge Charteris noted Wright’s nine-year-old brother had died 17 years ago and it had apparently impacted on Wright, who had struggled with depression over this and other issues in his life.

The court heard Wright has previously engaged in detox and counselling programs to shake his drug dependence.

“We have a system where someone gives their personal history and it is a fertile area. Who knows how true it is?”Judge Charteris said.

“Can’t we just get on with life? I have some cynicism about this, because the reason little Johnny’s depressed is that his aunty’s chook died in 1953. Sometimes these reports are insulting to the intelligence.”

However, he said some aspects of the report had proved very helpful in his deliberations and he was focused on the facts.

“I don’t care about you crying here and I can’t be deflected because you have a child at the back of the court. You must obey the law. The magistrate was right to send you to jail,” he said.

Judge Chateris said while he remained sceptical of some of the things Wright had told his psychologist, he was prepared to uphold his appeal and release him from prison, but it came with a warning.

“You can’t drive or I will have to send you back to jail,” he said.