WATCH: Car enthusiast jailed for role in high-speed chase up valley

Monday 13 June 2022

The founder of a car enthusiast club who was in a vehicle that “used Jersey’s roads as a personal race track” has been thrown behind bars.

27-year-old Steven Caldeira Pacheco was sentenced in the Magistrate’s Court to six months' imprisonment on Friday, alongside his girlfriend, Lilia Maria Bonito Ferreira (25), who was given 50 hours' community service.

Both were travelling in a Ford Fiesta, which Pacheco owned, which sped up St. Peter’s Valley in the early hours of 17 January last year at speeds of up to 86 mph.

Other cars were also speeding up the valley at the same time, including a white Honda Integra which the blue Fiesta was chasing. 

The Crown had argued that Pacheco, who founded the Jersey Street Elites group and had previously decried the 'boy racer' label, was behind the wheel but this was not proved at trial and he was found guilty of “aiding and abetting” the dangerous driving, by being a passenger who not only failed to intervene but also encouraged it.

Pictured: Pacheco previously spoke about how local car enthusiasts were fed up of being labelled 'boy racers'.

Ferreira was also found guilty of the same charge, by filming the high-speed chase on her mobile phone. The footage was later circulated on social media, which prompted the police to begin an investigation.

Passing sentence on Friday, Assistant Magistrate Sarah Fitz told Pacheco: “You were an active participant in using Jersey’s roads as a personal race track. You were a passenger in your own car, which was driven by someone whom you have refused to identify. 

“You were in a car that raced up St. Peter’s Valley at up to 86 mph, at times on the wrong side. It is a main road but it is narrow in places and has many bends. 

“This island has a problem with people using its roads as personal race tracks. It is startling to residents, and it puts people at serious risk of injury, including innocent road users who are entitled to use the road without fear of meeting a car on the wrong side, even at 03:00.”

Mrs Fitz also referenced Pacheco’s “very poor record” of motoring offences, which included driving while disqualified.

Pictured: Magistrate Sarah Fitz said the island "has a problem with people using its roads as personal race tracks."

“You do appear to have a history of disregarding the laws of the island, when it comes to motoring” she said.

“You have been given community service orders four times in the past and there comes a time when the Court can no longer offer you that opportunity.

“This Court takes dangerous driving very seriously and it was only a matter of luck that no accident occurred; you cannot avoid custody today.”

Pacheco was also banned from driving for two years and fined £500 for a separate offence of failing to pull over when told to by a police officer at Cheapside on 28 February this year.

When it came to Ferriera, Mrs Fitz said she was an “active participant“ and the judge did not accept her defence that she failed to tell the driver to slow down because she was too scared.

However, the Assistant Magistrate accepted that Ferriera was a “secondary participant” who had only sent the video she had taken to Pacheco when he asked her to.

She sentenced Ferriera to 50 hours of community service, the equivalent of one month in prison, and banned her from driving for 12 months. 

The prosecution had argued that Pacheco was behind the wheel of the Fiesta, and had accused him of dangerous driving, but this had not been proved at a trial in April. However, Pacheco had been found guilty of ‘aiding and abetting’ dangerous driving.

Both Pacheco and Ferriera will have to retake their tests before being allowed to drive again. 

Video: The video shot by Lilia Ferriera on her mobile phone, which was later distributed on social media. (States of Jersey Police.)

Chief of Police Robin Smith said: “Islanders will no doubt be shocked and deeply concerned by the footage associated with this case. There’s no doubt in my mind that if someone had been coming in the opposite direction the outcome would have resulted in someone’s death or something very serious. 

“There are often complaints of drivers tearing around the islands roads late at night in seemingly organised convoys. This custodial sentence should act as a deterrent to anyone else choosing to participate in this very dangerous behaviour. It’s as a result of painstaking collaboration between SOJP and the Law Officers Department and I thank them for their dedication and professionalism.”