West Albury criminal Eric Chew was "incoherent" and in an illicit drug stupor when dragged from the Murray River, having not long fled from police in a stolen car.
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He had floated about 1.7 kilometres downstream on dumping the black MG, its engine left running, and jumping into the river at Hovell Tree Park.
Moments before trying to make his escape, Chew had been followed by police on both sides of the border - including by the NSW Polair helicopter.
Chew appeared briefly in Albury Local Court on Wednesday, April 24, when his sentencing on a host of charges related to the incident and another stolen car had to be adjourned for a week.
That was because of the unavailability of a sitting magistrate.
Chew is in custody, bail refused, over the incident and other, unrelated matters.
Court registrar Wendy Howard adjourned sentencing to Wednesday, May 1.
Chew will be dealt with over a string of charges, though several - including one of police pursuit - were withdrawn.
He has pleaded guilty to two counts of driving a conveyance taken without consent of owner, two of unlicensed driving, two of dishonestly obtain property by deception and charges of using a vehicle with an unauthorised number plate, possessing goods suspected of being stolen, dangerous driving, driver not disclose identity of driver or passenger, display altered number plates and not stop vehicle when directed.
At the time of his arrest, the court was told, Chew had three warrants out of his arrest in Victoria, two of those for vehicle offences.
He was also on two intensive corrections orders in NSW, imposed on June 6, 2023, and January 25, 2024.
Police said a key to the MG was stolen by "unknown persons" from a bench inside a Jones Street, Albury, house on February 18 between 7pm and 11pm.
Someone returned to the house before 5.30am the next day and used the key to take the car from the garage.
Chew drove the MG - which had one of the registration plate letters changed from a "C" to an "O" - to the BP service station in Travelstop Way, Lavington, on February 21 about 1am.
He got out, put $69.92 of fuel into the vehicle, got back in and drove off without paying.
At 8.47pm the same day, police saw the MG on Pemberton Street, West Albury, near the Mott Street intersection.
Police turned on their car's lights and sirens, but the car - with Chew in the driver's seat - fled, moving on to the wrong side of the road while heading up the hill going east.
Chew turned into Dight Street, again on the wrong side of the road, then made his way to the Lincoln Causeway.
He headed south on the northbound lanes "at high speed" while being followed by NSW Polair, with several members of the public making calls to Triple-0 to report his dangerous driving.
Chew then turned on to the Hume Freeway before taking the Melrose Drive exit.
At 9.15pm, the MG headed back into NSW via the freeway, with Chew exiting in South Albury.
He made his way to Hovell Street, then headed west as police directed him to pull over.
Instead, Chew turned off the car's headlights and on reaching Wodonga Place drove straight across four lanes of traffic, without stopping, and pulled over in a grassed area at Hovell Tree Park, close to the river.
Chew got out, ran to the water's edge and jumped in fully clothed. Police arrived and saw him floating in the middle of the river.
He moved back to the NSW side of the river, spoke briefly to police and then went back to the middle.
Police said Chew floated downstream for about 25 minutes, with Polair and police on both sides of the border keeping watch.
He was assisted from the water when he reached a spot approximately in line with Solomon Street, West Albury, and arrested.
"(Chew) was in an exhausted state as well (as) showing signs of intoxication from drug use, with his speech being totally incoherent."
Chew then had to be dragged about two metres up the river bank by police and paramedics and was taken to Albury hospital to be checked and to have blood and urine samples taken.
After he was medically cleared he was taken to the Albury police station the next day at 11.15am, undergoing an interview in which he said he did not remember what he was doing during some of the incidents.
He refused to identify the passengers of a stolen Toyota Yaris he was seen driving in Corowa on February 10 and four days later in Albury.
Chew had pulled into the same BP service station about 3am, got $63 in fuel and drove off. Later the same day, CCTV footage captured him driving the car into a Howlong BP.
There was no number plate on the back, while the front plate had been stolen in Thurgoona on February 2.
The car was torched at Glen Park, Glenroy, on February 16 about 9pm.
