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Perth man accused of letting toddler steer car appears in court

Read the original at ABC News (AU) ↗
Cite

Kordic, M. (2026, October 2). Perth man accused of letting toddler steer car appears in court. ABC News (AU). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-02/jake-douglas-smith-allegedly-let-toddler-steer-car-in-perth/107220950

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

ABC News (AU) · collected 2026-10-02 · by Mya Kordic

Quick Summary

Jake Douglas Smith, 30, appeared in Joondalup Magistrates Court on reckless driving charges after allegedly letting a toddler steer his Toyota Hilux through suburban Perth. Police claim that a video posted by Smith shows the child controlling the vehicle while sitting on his lap; the footage includes the car mounting a curb and stopping on a front lawn. Smith requested an adjournment during his court appearance but was granted extended bail until further proceedings in late September.
Written by AI on 2026-10-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

A 30-year-old Perth man named Jake Douglas Smith appeared in court after being accused of letting a toddler steer his Toyota Hilux while driving through the suburbs. The incident occurred on September 11 in Alkimos, where a video uploaded by Smith showed a child's hands on the steering wheel and the car mounting a curb before stopping on a lawn. After his arrest in Morley on September 12, Smith appeared before Magistrate Raelene Johnston at the Joondalup Magistrates Court, asking for an adjournment without legal representation. The court was informed that Smith is currently under a conditional suspended imprisonment order but no further details were provided.

Written for “Car Accident Trial” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Car Accident Trial
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
12
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
8%
1 of 12 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
67/100
ABC News (AU)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-02 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (AU) · 4804 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Mya Kordic
8 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 8 articles by Mya Kordic →

Topics

Alkimos Hilux Morley Perth Toyota

Subjects

Smith PERSON · 4× Alkimos GPE · 1× Jake Douglas Smith PERSON · 1× Morley PERSON · 1× Perth GPE · 1× Raelene Johnston PERSON · 1× Toyota ORG · 1× the Joondalup Magistrates Court ORG · 1×

Narrative

The video shows the chid's hands on the steering wheel and the back of their head, as the car is driven through a residential area. It then mounts a curb and stops on a front lawn.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-02
2026-10-02 · ABC News (AU)
Perth man accused of letting toddler steer car appears in court · assertive framing

Claims (12 extracted, 1 hedged)

A 30-year-old man who allegedly let a toddler steer a car while sitting unrestrained on his lap through suburban streets in Perth's north has appeared in court on reckless driving charges. uncertain
toddler → let → charges
Police said Jake Douglas Smith uploaded a video to social media which appeared to show a young child on his lap while driving a Toyota Hilux in Alkimos on September 11. asserted
which → say → September
The child appeared to "have control" of steering the vehicle, police allege. asserted
police → appear → vehicle
The 30-year-old was arrested the next day at an address in Morley. asserted
old → arrest → Morley
The video shows the chid's hands on the steering wheel and the back of their head, as the car is driven through a residential area. It then mounts a curb and stops on a front lawn. asserted
It → show → lawn
When the car stops, a man can be heard excitedly saying, "say hello, yeah I did it, a three-year-old driving the car!" asserted
old → stop → car
The video was captioned "3 year old driving a Hilux what a legend". asserted
old → caption → Hilux
Bail extended Mr Smith represented himself when he appeared in the Joondalup Magistrates Court on Friday and asked the magistrate for an adjournment. asserted
he → represent → adjournment
When Magistrate Raelene Johnston asked the prosecution whether Mr Smith had a record, the court was told he was on a conditional suspended imprisonment order. asserted
he → ask → order
No further details were provided. asserted
details → provide → ?
Mr Smith's bail was extended until his next hearing later this month. asserted
bail → extend → hearing
When asked by a reporter outside the court whether he uploaded the alleged video to social media, Mr Smith said he was "not too sure". asserted
he → ask → media
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