A Dunedin woman assaulted a driver in an explosion of road-rage while the victim's severely disabled daughter watched, a court has heard.
Hayley Joyce Coxon (27) pleaded guilty to the offence from April 5 last year, as well as two counts of receiving committed five months later.
The Dunedin District Court heard Coxon was travelling on State Highway 1 and became enraged by the driving of a car in front.
She followed and when the woman pulled into the driveway of her home, the defendant grabbed her while her friend punched her in the face.
Judge Michael Crosbie said the victim was adamant there was nothing unsafe about her driving and suffered migraines for four weeks following the attack.
She since felt paranoid while driving and had flashbacks to the incident.
The victim told the Otago Daily Times she pleaded with her assailants not to become violent, explaining she had a disabled daughter in the rear of her car.
But it did not persuade them.
"To me they were right off their heads ... They were psycho," she said.
"I've never come across in my whole life such vicious, horrible women."
Coxon, who told the court yesterday she also had a daughter, was part of a group of four who went to a City Rise home to pay a debt on September 16.
Two co-defendants broke into a room at the address and stole a laptop.
When the group were unable to pawn the item, Coxon stashed it at a friend's house because she was worried hers would be searched.
Later the same day, the quartet went to a man's house after hearing he had received a significant payout.
Coxon was outside the address in a car when 19-year-old Regan Kennedy and another woman robbed him of $1200.
That cash was later split four ways, the court heard.
Like Kennedy - who was sentenced to 12 months' home detention - Coxon was originally charged with aggravated robbery but it was later amended by the Crown.
She told police she was at the scene but had no idea what was going to happen inside.
The court heard about Coxon's troubled past but the judge said that did not justify her "extensive" criminal history, which included violence, dishonesty, arson and breaches of sentences.
"[It] doesn't entitle you to go out and wreak havoc on other people's lives," Judge Crosbie said.
Coxon said she wanted to distance herself from bad influences.
She was sentenced to five months' community detention, nine months' supervision and ordered to pay $800 reparation.
The victim of the road-rage attack was unsatisfied by the outcome.
"She deserves to be in jail. What she did was really horrific," she said.
