Man in custody after road-rage hammer attack

Barry Fletcher, in hospital last night, thought he was about to die until his attacker casually walked away. Picture / Brett Phibbs

"I have no doubt he was trying to kill me."

That is how Barry Fletcher recalls an apparent road-rage attack by a man armed with a claw hammer that has left him bruised, battered and bewildered.

The vicious attack was captured clearly on security footage. Last night crime squad Detective Heath Jones said a man was in custody.

He said a police officer recognised the man from the footage and the man presented himself at Auckland central police station about 9pm. He was yet to be charged.

Mr Fletcher was in a stable condition last night in Middlemore Hospital, with multiple fractures to his right ankle and left wrist and gashes to the bone on his lower right leg. His right arm is spotted with bruises.

Mr Fletcher, a truck driver for a Penrose distribution centre, had pulled into a client's driveway on Savill Drive, Mangere, with a fully laden truck about 2.30pm Tuesday.

He does not know what provoked the attack, but says he had beeped his horn at a van just moments before.

He was awaiting security clearance when his door was flung open and, without hesitation, a heavily built Polynesian man began pounding his right upper body with a large claw hammer.

"It took me a few seconds to work out what was happening. And then he tried to attack my head, so I raised my right arm to protect it," Mr Fletcher said from hospital last night.

"He had these massive black pupils filled with insane, uncontrollable anger. I have no doubt he was trying to kill me."

The attacker, using the hammer's long straight claws, punctured Mr Fletcher's lower right leg through to the bone, before repeatedly hammering the driver's right ankle and foot.

"He kept yelling all kinds of things ... 'apologise, apologise,'. I kept saying 'I'm sorry, I don't know what I've done'."

Powerless to fight back, Mr Fletcher tried to move to the passenger seat, still protecting his head, but was hit again in the back.

The attacker then grabbed Mr Fletcher's jacket, dragging him from the truck's cab. He fell 2m, breaking his left wrist upon landing.

As he lay on the ground, the man gathered himself to attack again.

"All I can remember is him standing over me with the hammer, lining up my head."

Distracted momentarily by his partner "yelling at the top of her voice", the man turned back to Mr Fletcher just as another truck arrived. The man and his partner then casually departed.

Mr Fletcher said he was certain the arrival of the second truck saved his life.

The motive for the attack baffled him. "I have thought it through so many times and I can't find any point of provocation. It's just left me bewildered."

Earlier, the light green van containing the attacker and his partner had pulled out of a carpark in front of Mr Fletcher's 15m-long truck as he approached a stop sign on Massey Rd. The van had beads and a large white cross hanging from the rear vision mirror. Mr Fletcher said he beeped his horn twice to let the van know he was there.

"There was no abusive gesture [from me], no tail-gating, and no airhorns. The van did not respond."

He followed the van slowly before it suddenly pulled over.

Mr Fletcher passed and headed to his client's depot, about 500m away, noticing the van had not moved.

"If he had pulled out and followed me, I would have stopped, got out and asked him what was going on."

The attack has left him disappointed. "But it hasn't damaged my faith in humanity, or stolen my sense of humour ... I apologised to the client for dirtying his driveway with blood."

Two years ago Massey University's Dr Mark Sullman completed a study of driving anger among New Zealanders.

He used the international Driver Anger Scale to investigate the types of situations that caused drivers to become angry.

After surveying 861 drivers he found five categories of anger-provoking situations; police presence, traffic obstructions, illegal driving, hostile gestures and discourteous driving.

Dr Sullman says that, surprisingly, overall levels of driver anger appeared to be higher than equivalent research in the United Kingdom, but were lower than those found in America. At the top of the driving anger chart were young, female, urban-dwelling, high-mileage, less experienced and speedy drivers.