KEY POINTS:
It began when an apple core was thrown at a car and ended when a man was slashed in the stomach twice with a knife.
Possum trapper Dae Van Der Maazen, 32, has been jailed for two years for what police say is one of the most extreme cases of road rage they have dealt with in the Western Bay.
Van Der Maazen was a passenger in a car and took exception to the driving behaviour of the victim who pulled out into his vehicle's path in Papamoa on June 22 last year.
An apple core was then thrown at the victim's car.
Both vehicles stopped and when the 36-year-old victim approached Van Der Maazen to speak to him, the pair got into a heated discussion.
The two men then began pushing and shoving each other outside Papamoa Primary School, which culminated in Van Der Maazen pulling a sharp knife from his back pocket and slashing the other man twice in the stomach.
His victim underwent surgery at Tauranga Hospital for two wounds that pierced muscle tissue and he spent two days in hospital and had five weeks off work.
Crown prosecutor Larry Meredith told Judge Thomas Ingram the extreme and premeditated violence deserved a jail sentence starting at 2 1/2 years.
Mr Meredith said the victim continued to suffer from stress after incident and was highly unlikely to be able to return to his former supervisory job with the Probation Service.
But Maazen's lawyer, Chris Tennet, said that while the incident was serious, it could not be categorised as extreme violence or a premeditated act, and a prison sentence of two years or less was appropriate.
Mr Tennet said his client had been assessed as being at low risk of reoffending, had no history of violence and had joint custody of his son, so he sought leave for him to apply for home detention.
Judge Ingram told Van Der Maazen that given the degree of harm and the financial and mental losses suffered by his victim, a prison sentence of two years was entirely appropriate.
Van Der Maazen was found guilty of one charge of wounding with intent to injure by a jury on June 25. He was granted leave to apply for home detention and ordered to begin paying reparation of $1990 to his victim upon his release from prison, to reimburse him for loss of wages, clothing and medical costs.
- BOP TIMES
