Ronald Wayne Shiels was sentenced at Wollongong District Court after he breached parole. Photo: Zoe Cartwright.
A Warilla man on parole for the murder of his father is back behind bars.
Ronald Wayne Shiels spent 14 years in jail after he stabbed his father to death at a family home in 2010.
On 30 April 2024, Shiels was released on parole.
In November 2024 the 36-year-old was back in custody following two car thefts and a dangerous police pursuit.
Shiels pleaded guilty to driving stolen cars, taking part in a police pursuit, and driving dangerously in Wollongong District Court.
He has never held a driver’s licence.
Judge Andrew Haesler passed sentence on Shiels.
In his judgement, Judge Haesler said Shiels’ offending spree began in the early hours of 17 November 2024, when a house in southern Wollongong had a window broken.
Car keys were taken from the house and used to take a Range Rover.
Shiels admitted he was in that motor vehicle knowing it had been stolen, and his DNA was found on the steering wheel.
The Range Rover was recovered a few kilometres from where it was taken.
Sometime in the evening of 24 November 2024 an unknown person entered a residence in a caravan park in southern Wollongong.
Again, car keys were stolen and a Mitsubishi vehicle was taken.
On 25 November 2024 at 1:25 pm, Shiels, with a female passenger, drove the vehicle into a Caltex Service Station.
CCTV recorded the female passenger hopping out of the vehicle and filling it up with petrol, and the car driving off.
About 7:10 pm that evening, police driving in southern Wollongong saw the Mitsubishi.
They confirmed it was stolen and made a U-turn to follow it.
The police activated warning lights and then a siren.
In response, Shiels brought the Mitsubishi up to 115 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.
He did not slow when he approached stop signs, and made dangerous U-turns.
As the chase continued, Shiels entered a cul-de-sac, turned and drove back towards the pursuing police vehicle, reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, through quiet suburban streets.
Police called off the pursuit, which was terminated when the Mitsubishi went through a red light at an intersection between a suburban street and a main road.
Sometime later the vehicle was seen heading south, and police deployed road spikes.
The Mitsubishi went over those road spikes, but continued on and ran a red light, narrowly missing another vehicle.
It was eventually found outside Shiels’ home, where he ran through the front and exited over the back fence.
Shiels was arrested at his home the next day, and upon his arrest bragged about the police chase.
“What am I the best driver in the South Coast?” he asked officers.
“Got away from you though didn’t I … laid spikes down and still got away.”
Judge Haesler said given Shiels’ parole and the risk his driving presented to the community there was no option but to sentence him to return to jail.
He said Shiels initially responded well to parole, however, after six months he failed to attend reviews and engage in programs.
Judge Haesler said this could be because Shiels had resumed using illicit drugs, which he first took up “before he was old enough to make rational choices”.
Shiels’ drug use, in combination with his schizophrenia, affected his decision-making, but did not excuse him from responsibility, the judge found.
He said a disruptive childhood that involved early exposure to drugs and alcohol, alongside Shiels’ decade of incarceration from the age of 20 had also affected his ability to live a normal live in the community.
“Judges do not underestimate how difficult it is to reintegrate,” Judge Haesler said.
“But [Shiels] has to learn the consequences of not obeying the direction of parole officers, of breaching the law and breaking his promises to the State Parole Authority.”
Shiels received an aggregate sentence of 1 year and 10 months in jail.
The sentence was backdated to begin on 26 November 2024 with a non‑parole period of 11 months.
Shiels was eligible for release to parole on 25 October 2025, and his sentence expires on 25 September 2026; however, the parole period for his murder sentence will continue until 2030.
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