A Ponsonby chief executive accused of bashing a pensioner during an alleged road rage attack involving a $430,000 supercar has been granted suppression. Photo / NZME
A Ponsonby chief executive accused of bashing a pensioner during an alleged road rage attack involving a $430,000 supercar has been granted suppression. Photo / NZME
A Ponsonby CEO accused of bashing a pensioner during a road rage incident has been granted interim suppression.
Judge Tony Couch granted the order until May 2025, citing potential financial harm to the CEO’s business.
The case, involving a $430,000 supercar, will be heard at a judge-alone trial next year.
A Ponsonby chief executive accused of bashing a pensioner during an alleged road rage attack involving a $430,000 supercar has been granted suppression after his lawyer argued he would suffer extreme hardship if named.
At the North Shore District Court on Friday, a judge told the man hiscase was of “prurient” public interest because of the luxury vehicle he was driving.
The 36-year-old was granted interim suppression until at least May next year after claiming his business could suffer adverse financial consequences if his name was published in the media.
The Herald opposed the order, arguing there was public interest in the man being identified and that the “horse had effectively bolted” because he had already been named on social media.
Judge Tony Couch ruled identification would cause the man severe hardship but warned his arguments for suppression were “marginal at best” and the application “just, and only just” met the required threshold.
“He says, in his affidavit, that detailed descriptions of events have so far been highly inaccurate and one-sided, and that if he is now linked to that there would be a perception that what has already been published is correct,” the judge said.
The man is charged with dangerous driving and fighting in public in connection with the August incident near Silverdale, which allegedly left the 74-year-old victim, who has also been charged, with concussion symptoms, scrapes, cuts, broken glasses and a contusion.
Judge Couch then addressed the defendant directly and said that what had caught the public’s attention in this case “is the car that you were driving”.
“The public who cannot afford such vehicles inevitably have a rather prurient interest in seeing people who have such vehicles” brought before the courts.
While the judge was prepared to grant suppression, he warned the defendant the order was by no means permanent.
He said if the defendant was convicted then his chances of a permanent order are minimal.
The man’s lawyer, Guyon Foley, told the court his client denied the charges and planned to call an expert witness during the trial.
“Expert as to what?” the judge queried.
“Driving,” Foley replied.
“The art of driving or the practice of controlling a motor vehicle,” the judge said.
Defence lawyer Guyon Foley says his client denies the charges and plans to call an expert witness during the trial. Photo / Dean Purcell
Foley said he was concerned police had not yet provided full disclosure of all the material held on file, suggesting officers had shown the other driver photos of one of the cars that had not been shared with the CEO.
The judge said it sounded like Foley was embarking on a “fishing expedition”, but noted it was “fundamental” that all material relevant to the case be disclosed to the defence.
Foley said while both men had been charged with fighting, only his client faced a dangerous driving charge.
The judge said there seemed to be “no dispute” about the basic facts surrounding the incident.
“This issue is really the manner of driving, isn’t it?” the judge asked.
“I expect so your honour,” Foley replied, adding, “and in terms of the fighting charge, what happened.”
The judge then gave Foley a ticking-off for only handing up a copy of his client’s suppression application and sworn affidavit on the morning of the hearing.
He said this disadvantaged the media and gave him “no option”.
“I’m not happy about that,” Judge Couch said.
However, the suppression order was granted, preventing the media from naming the defendant or his company, and the matter set down for a judge-alone trial next year.
The CEO, dressed in sneakers, fawn trousers and a white untucked shirt, was granted bail on the condition that he doesn’t communicate with the elderly complainant or “threaten violence”.
‘Up my bum’
The charges relate to an incident in August on the Northern Motorway.
The pensioner told police he was attacked on the roadside at Highgate Parkway after being “tailgated” by the businessman’s 2019 supercar.
In a written statement to police, the pensioner said he was driving north on SH1 when he noticed the sports car “up my bum” in the right-hand lane, trying to overtake.
The man claimed the sports car then cut to his left-hand side, with the driver waving and gesticulating.
“Me thinking, ‘What a clown’, I did give him the one-finger salute,” the man wrote.
A North Shore pensioner suffered suspected concussion, bruises and scrapes in an alleged road rage attack on the Northern Motorway.
Next, the sports car allegedly pulled in front of the elderly man’s Kia and slowed to about 60km/h, the pensioner claimed.
He then felt a “bump” as the two vehicles collided before he exited the motorway at Millwater, followed by the sports car.
The man said he pulled over and walked towards the sports car saying, “You are so wrong” when the driver allegedly “charged at me” and “started to punch me left and right blows to the head”.
The sports car driver allegedly pulled the older man’s sweatshirt over his head and threw him to the ground “where he continued to rain down blows on my head and body”, the statement alleges.
“Stunned and disorientated”, the man got to his feet and “staggered around”.
He recalls saying, “You smashed my effing glasses” before the sports car driver allegedly launched a second attack.
The 74-year-old claims he was punched "left and right to the head".
“He once again threw me to the ground ... hitting me and I think some kicks or stomping.
“When it stopped I was completely disorientated and when I tried to get to my feet my left leg would not support me and I was staggering and close to passing out.”
Both men filed police reports following the incident, blaming the other for the violent altercation, and are now both before the court.
The pensioner’s family said his physical and mental health had suffered since the incident. They were stunned the retired mechanic and grandfather had been charged and planned to defend the matter at trial.
The CEO told the Herald the pensioner was the one at fault.
“I was assaulted by this gentleman,” he alleged, adding, “there’s the possibility that I suffered injuries.”
He declined to comment further after speaking to his lawyer.
“As much as I wish to comment, the matter is currently before the courts, therefore I am not in a position to make any comment at this time.”
Lane Nichols is deputy head of news and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years experience in the industry.
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