Court yesterday to wrecking a $35,000 Mazda which he took for a joyride.

And he claimed the reason for the accident was that he had a sudden mental "flashback'' to the time he watched a crane fall on a work mate and crush him to death at the Bull's Head car park construction site.

Anthony Clinton Paynter, 42, of the Salvation Army Shelter, Pembroke, faced one charge of stealing the almost-new luxury car, one count of driving a car not insured for him and one of driving without a valid driving licence.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Phil Taylor said Paynter was working at the Par-La-Ville car park when the Mazda owner gave him his car keys and asked for his car to be washed, as it had been before.

The owner specifically told Paynter he was not to drive the vehicle for any reason but was only to use the keys to access it.

Despite this, the car washer drove the Mazda to St. George's and on the way back he drove off an embankment on the North Shore Road, flipping the car into some bushes.

Sgt. Taylor said Paynter fled the scene before Police arrived and was arrested later on November 24.

Senior Magistrate Will Francis said the case highlighted the seriousness of driving without insurance.

"This valuable car was pretty well written off and the insurance company is going to wash their hands of it because the driver was unlicensed.'' But he said that he accepted it was not Paynter's intention to permanently deprive the owner of the car but rather "joyride'' and return it.

Paynter said he drove off the wall because he was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing a work mate die in a construction site accident several years ago.

"I was having flashbacks of the guy who got killed at Bull's Head Carpark when the crane fell over. I was right there working with the gentleman.

"I was supposed to get help for that but they never gave it to me. I had a flashback of him screaming for his life when I crashed the car,'' he said.

Mr. Francis sentenced him to six months in prison suspended for two years.