Celebrities aren’t immune to the temptations faced by us regular folk. Just like us, they have to battle impulses to overeat, overspend, bunk work and endanger the lives of fellow road-users. With the Jub Jub saga coming to a (temporary) end yesterday with a 25 year jail sentence, we decided to take a look at some naughty celebs who managed to dodge severe punishment despite being found guilty of various vehicular crimes.

Mandoza
No stranger to automobile-related mischief (he spent 18 months at Diepkloof when he was 16 for stealing a car), Mandoza made headlines for all the wrong reasons in March 2007 after his negligent driving caused the death of two people on the N1 outside Joburg. To his credit, our man owned up to his recklessness, pleading guilty to charges of culpable homicide. The judge took it easy on him, suspending his jail sentence and ordering him to reimburse the families of the victims for their legal costs.

Paris Hilton
It’s difficult to condemn someone for behaving recklessly when they’ve been rewarded with fame and fortune for making a sex tape. In early 2007, Paris Hilton seemed intent on testing the limits of this theory when she twice decided to drive with a suspended license for an earlier DUI conviction. Having gotten away with a warning in January, she was again pulled over in February for driving at double the speed limit at night without her headlights turned on. This time, however, the judge handed down a 45-day prison sentence, which was completed despite numerous efforts (of varying success) at having the judgement squashed.

Nicole Richie
Not to be outdone by her former BFF, Nicole Richie boosted her declining bad-girl image (limited to a comparatively trivial heroin bust in 2003) by driving into oncoming traffic on an LA freeway while under the influence of marijuana and Vicodin. She was released an hour and a half into her four-day prison sentence; presumably the length of time it took the sheriff’s department to realise that their jails were ‘too overcrowded’ for a nonviolent offender, even if the offender takes up the same amount of space as a parking meter.

Herschelle Gibbs
Having been bust for smoking weed while on tour to the West Indies, as well as playing a crucial role in 2000’s infamous Hansiegate scandal, Herschelle Gibbs was already accustomed to controversy when he was pulled over for drunk driving in 2008. Still not tired of having to defend himself, the flamboyant cricketer pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence. Despite failing to appear his first hearing, charges of drunken driving were withdrawn on the condition that Gibbs performed community service as punishment for his offence.

Doctor Khumalo
A last minute save equal to any he might have witnessed on the soccer field spared the local soccer legend a possible jail sentence following his collision with a taxi outside Soweto. Prosecuting evidence was limited to eye-witness accounts of Khumalo’s drunken behaviour following the accident, since his blood samples were rendered inadmissible due to missing documentation. He was, however, found guilty of negligent driving and fined a mere R6000 despite the seriousness of the injuries he caused several taxi passengers.

What do you think about the Jub Jub sentence? Has he perhaps received an unfairly harsh sentence because of his fame?

By Adriaan du Toit