Bunbury man Daniel John Evans jailed for series of car chases through Mandurah and South West

A Bunbury man has been sentenced to prison for more than two years after a number of dangerous car chases in which he evaded police twice and fired a shotgun. Daniel John Evans, 31, was sentenced to two and a half years jail and handed numerous fines for a string of charges including two counts of reckless driving, being armed in a way that may cause fear and endangering the life, health and safety of another person. The court was told Evans was driving his Subaru Forrester along Mandurah Road in Madora Bay at 12.40pm on November 20 last year when he was seen by police running a red light. When the officer activated his lights and siren to signal him to stop, Evans sped off through the streets of Mandurah, eventually parking his car on a vacant block. When the officer tried to approach Evans, he reversed his car almost hitting the officer and sped off, crossing to the wrong side of the road numerous times, almost crashing into the police car and other oncoming traffic, as well as mounting pavements, driving through lawns and almost hitting a pedestrian in a carpark. Although police were able to provide back-up with additional cars and the Police Air Wing, Evans was able to evade the police. Two days later, when police sighted Evans again driving in Manjimup and signalled for him to stop, he sped off and managed to evade police for a second time. Four days later, Evans broke into a property in Dixvale where he stole a 12-gauge shotgun, a rifle, a purse and jewellery. Later that day, Evans was seen by police driving his Forrester in Kirup. He sped off when police signalled for him to stop, prompting them to deploy tyre deflaters to bring Evans’ car to a stop. Evans then tried to evade police on foot, carrying the stolen shotgun which fired when he dropped it during the pursuit. A later search of Evans’ vehicle found the rest of the stolen items. The court was also told Evans failed to pay for petrol when he filled his car on four occasions in Mandurah, Waikiki and Busselton. In submissions, Evans’ lawyer Fiona Walsh told the court Evans had been released from prison in September last year after serving his full term and he relapsed into methamphetamine use soon after. While Magistrate Belinda Coleman accepted that Evans’ offending was “incredibly serious”, she said it was a “crying shame” that Evans was not released to parole. “If you were given the appropriate support by being placed on parole, there would have been a real chance for you to abstain from meth use,” she said. His prison term was backdated to November 2020 and Evans will be eligible for parole in February 2022.