David Glen Cramer sentenced to 23 months in jail for leading police on a chase through Kwinana and Rockingham

A man has been sentenced to almost two years in jail after he drove a stolen ute through Rockingham and Kwinana, leading police on a 20 minute high-speed chase. David Glen Cramer, 29, appeared in Rockingham Magistrates Court via video link from Hakea Prison last week, charged with reckless driving to escape pursuit by police, stealing a motor vehicle, no authority to drive, failing to comply with a direction to stop, drug possession and four counts of breaching a family violence restraining order. Police prosecutor Senior Constable Jessica Anderson said at 8.10am on May 12 police saw a ute — stolen from a Bibra Lake business that morning — driving along Thomas Road in Medina. The car was stolen during a commercial burglary earlier that morning in Bibra Lake She said Cramer was driving at 160km/h in an 80km/h zone and, after an attempt to stop him, police lost sight of the vehicle. Officers in a police helicopter observed Cramer driving through Wellard, Hillman and East Rockingham. His “reckless driving” caused him to mount a footpath and force other motorists to “take evasive action to avoid being hit”. Cramer abandoned the vehicle in Leda bushland near Mandurah and Wellard roads and fled on foot, “dumping” his black backpack that included a meth pipe as he ran. Police arrived and Cramer was arrested shortly afterwards. Sen. Const. Anderson also said that Cramer had breached his family violence restraining order four times by calling and texting his former partner and knocking on her car window while she was at their child’s school. Cramer’s lawyer, Malcolm Ayoub, said his client was “very remorseful and sorry” for his actions and that he “was not a bad person”. Mr Ayoub said Cramer was aware that he would “get a substantial sentence” as his traffic record was “horrendous”, but he wanted to work on his issues to “be a better father” for his kids. Magistrate Joanne Andretich said the offences were “extremely serious” and that it was his second reckless driving conviction. She also said three previous victims were subject to violence by him as well before handing down a jail term of one year and 11 months. Cramer’s licence was also permanently disqualified and he was declared a serial family violence offender.