Sam Ringk of Wakeford Street, Orange, told police "I think I'm suspended" when he was stopped while driving on April 29, 2023.

The 31-year-old was already in custody when he appeared in Orange Local Court to be sentenced on Thursday, April 11, 2024.

According to court documents, police saw Ringk driving 59km/h in a 50km/h zone on Woodward Street, Orange at 4.30am on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.

He could not produce his driver's licence when he was stopped and told police he thought his license has been suspended.

However, a police check revealed he still had 10 years to go on a driving disqualification.

Prosecutor Sergeant Chris Brien said the driving while disqualified offence was the ninth or 10^th on Ringk's driving record.

Magistrate David Day said Ringk previously had a learner driver's licence but it was disqualified on November 3, 2014. He has not been licensed to drive since then.

"He's disqualified for 20 years, 2014 to February 2034," Mr Day said.

Solicitor Matthew Tedeschi said the length of that disqualification was due to Ringk being declared a habitual offender.

Habitual offender declarations, which extended a person's disqualification period, were abolished in 2017.

However, Mr Tedeschi said his client has not done anything yet about having his habitual offender declaration removed and Ringk's last drive while disqualified offence was in 2019.

"He hadn't driven for all this time," Mr Tedeschi said.

However, Mr Tedeschi conceded Ringk's driving put him in breach of an intensive correction order, which is a community-based jail sentence, he was given for an unrelated offence.

"He will complete rehabilitation on his release," Mr Tedeschi said.

Mr Day said he could not give Ringk another ICO because Ringk was serving time in jail, which limited his sentencing options.

"I don't have a choice, he's crossed the custody threshold," Mr Day said when it came to handing down a sentence.

"He's serving sentences of imprisonment after ICOs for other [unrelated] offences were revoked .

"The state parole [authority] has not yet set a non-parole period for Mr Ringk."

Mr Day sentenced Ringk for the driving while disqualified offence to a fixed three-month jail sentence from April 11, 2024 to July 10, 2024.

He also disqualified Ringk's driving disqualification for an additional six months.

"Mr Ringk is a relatively young man, he has received custodial sentences before but that was quite some years ago," Mr Day said.

He added that penalties for driving offences have significantly declined since then.

Ringk has launched a severity appeal to be heard in the district court but did not apply for bail.