A young lawyer has been charged in connection with a police chase that began in Melbourne’s Domain Tunnel.
Rachelle Badour-Taha, 25, has been charged by the VIPER task force over the attempted interception of a car allegedly seen driving erratically in the tunnel, which runs under the city’s Yarra River, on February 26.
The gray Land Rover SUV is alleged to have failed to stop and fled from police at the Burnley exit at 1pm on that date, Herald of the sun reported.
Victoria Police will allege the owner of the vehicle, a 22-year-old woman from Box Hill, later said a 23-year-old Reservoir man was driving the car at the time.
He was arrested in April and is accused of saying he was driving, although he later admitted he had not.
The man told police that a 25-year-old Lalor woman had asked him to say he was the driver and that police say he is Badour-Taha.
“Investigators will allege that the 25-year-old Lalor woman recruited the 23-year-old Reservoir man to present himself for a driving offense committed by another person,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
Badour-Taha is one of four people accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice in the case.
Rachelle Badour-Taha (pictured) has been charged by the VIPER task force over the attempted interception of a car allegedly seen driving dangerously on February 26.
The alleged driver of the car that day was identified by highway patrol as a 31-year-old man from Wheelers Hill.
VIPER Task Force officers carried out warrants at properties in Lalor, Reservoir, Blackburn and Bayswater North as part of their investigations.
The Box Hill woman, 22, and the Wheelers Hill man, 31, have been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and dangerous driving while being pursued by police.
The new charges come as Badour-Taha and her ZD Legal colleague Zoe Davis appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday over an unrelated matter.
They are alleged to have submitted false documents to a court claiming a client was in hospital when they should have appeared before a magistrate.
A man told police that a 25-year-old Lalor woman had asked him to say he was the driver and that police say he is Badour-Taha (pictured).
They requested a postponement of that case until December while the police prepare a brief of evidence, the Herald of the sun reported.
Prosecutor Anne-Marie Stephanides said the law firm’s computers were still being investigated.
“In the computer analysis there are a significant number of documents that may be relevant,” he stated in court.