Tayla Ceeney sentenced to jail by ACT Magistrates Court after Monaro Highway crash

Tayla Louise Ceeney, 25, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

She previously pleaded guilty to eight charges including aggravated furious, reckless or dangerous driving, riding or driving a motor vehicle without consent, aggravated burglary, driving while disqualified and two counts of possession of stolen property.

Magistrate Robert Cook sentenced Ceeney to 13 months full-time imprisonment, backdated to take time already served while on remand into account.

Police documents tendered to the court state that in April 2021, in Forde, officers tried to stop a car driving on the wrong side of the road.

Later, police saw the wreckage of a Mazda CX-5 and a Hyundai Santa Fe that had collided head-on along the Monaro Highway.

The driver of the Hyundai told police the two occupants of the other car had "ran off".

Police saw an injured male and female 500 metres from wreckage. The pair were later identified as Ceeney and co-defendant Kynan Mittl.

In July 2021, Ceeney was the passenger in a stolen vehicle that police pursued across Canberra.

A white Nissan X-Trail was stolen by the co-defendant from Bonner while it was idling in a driveway, police documents state.

The victim was dragged 10 to 15 metres after she grabbed hold of the passenger door.

Two days later, police saw the vehicle with stolen Queensland plates.

Police followed the vehicle and tried to stop it with a deflation device, damaging the passenger side tyres.

The car continued and drove through a red light, before speeding on Horse Park Drive at an estimated 140kmh.

The vehicle's "front left tyre had shredded and it was travelling on its rim," police documents state.

Officers, again, used a deflation device this time damaging the driver's side tyres.

The vehicle then drove off the road and across a wooden pedestrian bridge before it lost control.

Thirteen months later while on bail, security cameras captured Ceeney driving a stolen Great Wall ute in Greenway.

In court on Wednesday, Mr Cook said Ceeney had been jailed in NSW for similar crimes in 2021.

He said her most recent crimes "show an increase in [Ceeney's] criminal engagement".

Ceeney has completed a number of programs while in custody, including drug and alcohol recovery initiatives.

The magistrate stated Ceeney had been homeless before her arrest and had a "desire to better life when released".

"Disappointingly, the majority of your associates are anti-social," Mr Cook said.

Ceeney had been described to the court by her mother as being "easily influenced and led astray" after falling in wit "the wrong crowd".

Mr Cook found her offending was the result of an addiction to methamphetamine, which she used as "a coping mechanism" for her mental health.

"[Ceeney] committed crimes to fund her drug habit," he said.

The magistrate said the woman had "some positive pursuits" such as swimming and bushwalking, when she wasn't using illicit drugs.

Ceeney will be eligible for release in October 2023.

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