A man who was racing home to help his girlfriend after her cat found a copperhead snake in her pants has had a rare win on a speeding offence, and has kept his licence.
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Timothy John Prime was clocked at 87kmh on the Kiewa Valley Highway at Tawonga in north-east Victoria on January 17, 2023.
The alleged speed of 85kmh in a 60kmh zone carried a driving ban of three months and a $509 fine.
Prime, 32, had received a frantic call from his girlfriend while at his parents' property.
The phone cut out due to reception issues, but he could make out that a snake was inside her home on nearby Reids Lane.
He didn't know if the snake had bitten his partner.
The 32-year-old got into his Toyota HiLux and sped towards the property but was spotted by highway patrol members on the way.
Video footage played in the Myrtleford court showed Prime pull over outside the town's kindergarten and immediately run to tell police of the snake dramas.
An officer said he was travelling at a speed that carried a driving ban.
An infringement was issued which was contested in court on April 19.
Prime argued through his lawyer he was responding to a sudden and extraordinary emergency, which justified the speed in the circumstances.
"She was hysteric, manic I guess you could say," the Tawonga farmer said when asked about his partner's phone call.
Prime said it was "pretty urgent to get there" and he thought it would be faster for him to drive there than call 000.
"I was in a fairly panicked state myself," he said.
His mother, Leonie, told the court he was "about an eight" out of 10 on the panic scale.
Mrs Prime said she and her husband had been badly burnt eight years ago, and her son had called an ambulance.
It took 45 minutes for the intensive care unit to arrive to that incident, she said, while it took 45 minutes to an hour for paramedics to attend to an injured truck driver at her property in October 2022.
Prime's partner, Breanna Hicks, said she'd had a shower and her cat had spotted the snake in her jeans before she could put them on.
"It was just lucky the cat pulled it out by the tail, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it," she said.
Ms Hicks said she had screamed and the copperhead snake went back into her jeans after her cat dropped it.
Magistrate Peter Dunn said "it certainly is an unusual case" and ultimately found in Prime's favour despite some reservations.
"It's clear to me that it's been conveyed to Mr Prime that there's a sudden and extraordinary emergency," he said.
"And the question really becomes, is it reasonable what he did in all the circumstances?
"For all he knows she could have been in imminent risk of death."
Mr Dunn said if emergency services were called, it was unclear where they would have been and what they could have done.
Mr Dunn said he was struggling with the fact Prime would have only gotten to the home slightly quicker, and if police had showed his driving wasn't reasonable.
"I'm in two minds, and being of two minds, I have to find in favour of Mr Prime," he said.
Prime will keep his licence as a result with the fine to also be dropped.
It is rare for people to successfully challenge speeding fines in Victorian courts.
