Jaden Morley Davies, 23, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to a raft of charges including perverting the course of justice, assault with a weapon and assault with intent to injure.
The court heard that on August 16, 2024, the defendant was driving in Castle St, when a vehicle from the other lane pulled in front of him.
Davies switched lanes, sped up so he was next to the other driver and threw an object, which hit the roof of the car.
When the driver pulled over to check his vehicle, Davies stormed up to him, yelling at the victim while holding a glass bottle.
He swung it at the man, causing a cut to his ear, which required eight stitches.
"You’ve messed with the wrong person," Davies told the man before driving off.
On April 5, at 3.45am, police were alerted that a car — a black Nissan Silvia — had crashed into a house in Neill St.
About 45 minutes later, Davies called police and reported his black Nissan Silvia had been stolen.
But sniffer dogs led police from the crash site right to Davies, who was at his house.
An evidential-breath test revealed a breath-alcohol level of 506mcg — twice the legal limit.
He initially maintained he was not the driver as his car was missing, but later admitted that was a lie.
On August 1, the defendant was found away from home during his bail curfew hours.
Police arrested him for the breach and Davies reacted by headbutting the vehicle.
He was combative and difficult to restrain during the car ride, threatened the officers and headbutted one three times to his face.
Davies was remanded in custody for about five weeks following this incident.
Yesterday, counsel Liam Collins said his client did not want to go back to prison and he had performed well on electronically monitored bail.
He highlighted Davies’ youth, remorse and difficult family circumstances at the time of the offences.
Judge David Robinson said the road-rage incident had potential to cause more harm than it did.
"This was a vicious attack carried out without provocation in broad daylight," he said.
"You wanted to assert your dominance ... you were acting out of revenge."
He said Davies’ pattern of offending was "serious and sustained", but noted he had only one prior conviction and some of his crimes could be put down to his youthful naivety.
"Seeing a cluster of offences like this is really concerning, but what seems to be behind this is a number of life stressors [and] misuse of substances, all matters which hopefully can be addressed in the community," the judge said.
Judge Robinson sentenced Davies to eight months’ home detention and 150 hours’ community work.
He also disqualified him from driving for six months and ordered him to pay a total of $866 reparation.
