Wog Boy Forever star Vince Colosimo escapes drug driving charges with a fine despite owing thousands

Australian actor Vince Colosimo has been released from court on charges of drugs and driving without a license with a fine, despite paying $65,215 in unpaid fines for traffic violations.

The Wog Boy Forever star declined to answer questions as he left Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and stormed down an avenue in an attempt to evade a media package.

Moments earlier, Colosimo had received a virtual slap on the wrist when magistrate Olivia Gumble convicted the actor and fined the actor $2,500 and canceled his license for an additional 16 months.

Colosimo had pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and without a license and had not given his real name to the police.

In an astonishing confession, the magistrate said she was afraid that Colosimo would simply ignore the fine she imposed on him.

“I’m not very confident he’s going to pay,” she said before handing out her sentence.

Prosecutors had asked for Colosimo to be jailed for his shocking driving history, including multiple previous convictions for driving without a license and a previous conviction for driving under the influence of drugs.

“Nothing less than prison is enough,” prosecutor Bianca Moleta insisted.

It was Ms Moleta who revealed Colosimo’s shocking failure to pay his debt to society, with a whopping 169 fines dating back to 2014.

The court heard that Colosimo had managed to be fined repeatedly for driving violations even though he never had a driver’s license.

Ms Moleta told the court that Colosimo had failed to pay so many fines that he was about to issue a new arrest warrant for his arrest.

Revelations about the unpaid fines stunned Colosimo’s attorney George Vassis, who quickly turned to address his client who was sitting behind him.

Mr Vassis alleged that his client lent his Peugeot to a buddy, who may have been responsible for the fines, despite Colosimo never informing Fines Victoria that anyone other than him had been driving.

The court heard that Colosimo claimed to have made an agreement with the fines authority years ago, but never went after it.

It is not yet known whether the prosecutors plan to appeal against Colosimo’s sentence.

The actor found himself in hot water during one of Victoria’s strict lockdowns.

Members of the Prahran Highway Patrol had intercepted his car on St Kilda Road, St Kilda around 2.30pm on Saturday, April 3 last year.

When asked for his driver’s license, Colosimo said he didn’t have it with him and pretended to be his twin brother Tony.

Unconvinced, the police pulled his brother’s license photo and again asked the actor who he was.

Colosimo confessed, but his troubles were about to get bigger than giving the police a false name.

When told he would be given a swab for a drug test, Colosimo begged the officers not to do it.

He claimed he had smoked marijuana three days earlier, taking “a few puffs” from a joint.

Forensic investigation would later show that he had been driving under the influence of methamphetamine.

When asked why he had been driving, Colosimo claimed he was on his way to run errands for his mother.

“He panicked,” Mr Vassis told the court.

When begging for mercy, Mr. Vassis claimed that Colosimo was in fact a devoted family man, living with his 19-year-old daughter and having an 8-year-old son.

“He takes his parental role very seriously, he is deeply ashamed,” said Mr Vassis.

Best known in Australia for playing mobster Alphonse Gangitano and Chopper’s Neville ‘No Cash’ Bartos, the court heard that Colosimo had now learned from his mistakes.

In 2017, Colosimo’s was warned that he would have to spend a stint in prison after being caught suspended for the third time – this time on ice.

Magistrate David Starvaggi told Colosimo that he should not have been allowed to go on the road and that drug driving was a fundamental problem that “even a kindergarten child could understand.”

“You’re building yourself up quite a bit of history here,” he said.

“You’re risking jail time…if you’re here for the fourth time, it won’t be pretty.”

On Wednesday, that warning sounded hollow, with Magistrate Gumble telling him the prison would only be sentenced as a last resort.

On pronouncing what she described as a “somewhat merciful punishment,” Ms. Gumble accepted that Colosimo was now on the “path to recovery.”

“Sometimes people fail on those trips,” she said.

Ms Gumble said she accepted that Colosimo was sorry for his actions and that the media attention his disgrace had earned was additional punishment.

The magistrate again warned Colosimo not to get behind the wheel and urged him to deal with his unpaid fines.

“You have to get your head out of the sand and deal with these matters,” she said.

“It should be treated as part of your long-term rehabilitation.”

Colosimo assured the magistrate that he had sought treatment for his drug problems, but had never completed a full program.

The actor spoke directly to Ms. Gumble to tell her that he had also sought help from counselors.

“I’ve seen many counselors in my time,” he said from his sea in the courtroom.

Upon leaving the court, Colosimo declined to discuss how he had handled his criminal ways.