Mount Gambier magistrate finds ‘extraordinary’ couple had sex during police car chase

A South Australian magistrate has called a couple’s decision to have sex during a police chase “extraordinary”.

Joshua James Childs, 28, was convicted in Mount Gambier Magistrates’ Court yesterday of 2021 aggravated police pursuit and 2020 assault.

Childs was sentenced to more than nine months of house arrest for two of the incidents, including a high-speed police chase in which he had sex with a passenger.

While the charges related to two separate incidents, Childs was convicted cumulatively.

“I never heard in my time as a magistrate that if someone was engaged in a police chase, they also had sex,” magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said.

The court heard how police tried to stop Childs twice as he speeded along the Princes Highway in September 2021 with a female passenger also in the vehicle.

The court heard Childs eluded police before officers spotted the car a third time and deployed spikes in the road, puncturing three of the vehicle’s tires.

Childs continued to evade police, driving while the rubber on his tires began to peel off his vehicle.

He continued to drive with metal rims sunk into the road surface.

A second set of road spikes were deployed to deflate the last of the vehicle’s tires, but Childs continued to evade police.

During her sentencing speech, magistrate Kossiavelos said what happened next was “extraordinary”.

With all the tires flat and going about 50 kilometers per hour, police saw the passenger in the vehicle climb up and straddle Childs.

Blocking the driver’s view, the woman began to move in an up and down motion, appearing to be engaging in sexual intercourse.

Childs was sentenced to seven months in prison to be served under house arrest.

Regarding the second charge of assault, the court also heard that in September 2020, Childs aggressively knocked a man off his bicycle while the victim was dropping off his child at Melaleuca Park Elementary School.

Childs chased the victim around the school grounds and punched him five times in the head.

He was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment to be served cumulatively via house arrest.