An Adelaide man who injured an innocent motorist in a high-speed, hit-run crash during an attempt to evade police has been sentenced to almost three years in prison with a judge warning him he could kill someone if he doesn't change his driving behaviour.
Jakob Thomas Johnson, 23, pleaded guilty to driving dangerously to escape police pursuit, causing harm by dangerous driving and leaving an accident scene after causing harm.
The District Court heard Johnson "risked the safety of police and other motorists" by driving while disqualified and speeding at about 120 kilometres per hour on Goodwood Road at Daw Park in Adelaide's south last February.
Police pursued Johnson for about 300 metres before abandoning the pursuit just before he changed lanes and crashed into the car of an "innocent road user".
That road user told the court it was a "severely traumatic" situation for him and had physically injured him as well as causing emotional and financial damage to his whole family.
Johnson fled the crash scene and was arrested more than two weeks later with police identifying him through personal items left in the vehicle.
The court heard a passenger in the car with Johnson at the time had refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Judge Liesl Kudelka said Johnson had been convicted and sentenced for similar driving offences and evading a police pursuit in 2017 and had a "considerable" criminal history.
"What troubles me about your offending is that it is an escalation of the offending for which you were sentenced," she said.
"At that time you were driving dangerous to escape police pursuit, you did that this time however, on this occasion you collided with a car of an innocent road user and hurt him.
"If your behaviour on the roads continues to escalate it may well be that you find yourself responsible for the death of a road user.
Johnson's lawyer Stacey Carter told the court her client's upbringing and life could only be described as "horrific and quite tragic".
She told the court Johnson's mother was "highly violent, often intoxicated and extremely cruel" and had abandoned her son at the age of nine, making him homeless and without basic life skills.
She said despite that, Johnson still gained an education and completed up to year 10 and had later gained employment.
The court also heard Johnson had written a letter of apology to the court.
Prosecutor Lucie Lock told the court that Johnson's criminal history was three-pages long and previous jail sentences had not deterred him.
She said a jail sentence was "clearly called for" in this instance.
Johnson was sentenced to two years and almost nine months in jail with a non-parole period of just over one year and four months which has been backdated to October last year.
Judge Kudelka said she was concerned that Johnson had found a sense of "safety and security" in prison and that rehabilitation needed to be part of his sentence.
Johnson will also be disqualified from driving for four years when he is released from custody.
