Ashley Brian Figura should have been in a Sydney drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility on February 9, according to the bail conditions he signed five days earlier after allegedly driving while disqualified.
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But police allege the 25-year-old was back in the ACT and again behind the wheel, speeding away from them in an overloaded ute and popping a tyre in what proved a temporarily successful attempt to get away.
Mr Figura was arrested at his Lyneham home in the early hours of last Sunday, after police received an anonymous tip he had been seen there the previous day.
Magistrate Bernadette Boss swiftly refused Mr Figura's request to again be released to the rehabilitation facility, when he appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday.
Mr Figura is charged with 17 offences including furious, reckless or dangerous driving, failing to stop a motor vehicle for police, driving while disqualified, and breaching bail.
Court documents say police saw Mr Figura, whose licence was disqualified, accelerating hard in an unregistered and uninsured maroon Holden Commodore in Weston on November 20.
The next day, officers allegedly saw Mr Figura driving the same car in Lyneham, Yarralumla and Red Hill.
He was charged with a number of driving offences as a result.
Court documents say that on February 4, Mr Figura was granted bail with a condition that he travel immediately to Wayback, a rehabilitation facility in Sydney. He was to remain there unless attending court.
But police allege that just five days after signing his bail, Mr Figura was in Canberra, behind the wheel of a white Ford Falcon ute.
Police documents tendered to the court allege members of the public saw Mr Figura driving into a Fyshwick car wash about 4.22pm on February 9.
One witness, concerned at having seen three people in the two-seater ute, searched its registration and called police after finding the number plates did not match the vehicle.
Police say officers who responded to the call recognised Mr Figura as he drove past them with the driver's side window down about 4.45pm.
With police following him, Mr Figura is accused of overtaking another car on the wrong side of the road as he exited the Monaro Highway onto Fairbairn Avenue.
Police activated their lights and sirens, and Mr Figura allegedly "started to accelerate rapidly", travelling well above speed limit.
The ute lost traction and hit the edge of the road, causing the rear left-hand tyre to "explode", police say in court documents.
The vehicle continued down Fairbairn Avenue and police were unable to track it down.
Police allege that one of the witnesses who had seen the ute at the car wash spotted it the next day on Facebook Marketplace, where it was listed for sale by an Ashley Figura.
Nearly two weeks later, on January 22, police received an anonymous tip Mr Figura had been seen several times at his home in Lyneham during the day, and that he had been driving a blue car.
Officers spotted a blue Holden Commodore ute leaving the street about 12.04am the next morning and followed it for a short time before it allegedly accelerated away from them at high speed.
Three hours later, police in an unmarked car allegedly spotted the car pull into Mr Figura's backyard.
They surrounded the house and found him lying on a bed inside about 3.44am, according to court documents.
In the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday, Mr Figura's lawyer argued that he should be released on bail next Thursday, when the Wayback facility would have a place available for him to return.
Mr Figura's lawyer indicated he would deny the charges stemming from the alleged incidents on February 9.
But Dr Boss described the prosecution's case as "overwhelmingly strong", with police saying an officer had recognised Mr Figura as the person behind the wheel.
Dr Boss said she had no confidence, given Mr Figura's criminal history, that he would comply with the law, bail conditions, or the rules at the Wayback facility.
Mr Figura is due to return to court next month.
