A Ponsonby CEO has appeared in North Shore District Court in connection with an alleged road rage incident involving a pensioner. The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to fighting in a public place and dangerous driving, and was granted interim name suppression. Photo / NZME
A Ponsonby CEO has appeared in North Shore District Court in connection with an alleged road rage incident involving a pensioner. The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to fighting in a public place and dangerous driving, and was granted interim name suppression. Photo / NZME
A Ponsonby chief executive charged after an alleged road rage attack involving a North Shore pensioner and a $430,000 European supercar has been granted interim suppression.
Both men have been charged in connection with the incident. The elderly man, who suffered suspected concussion, scrapes, bruising and a likely torn hamstring - is set to appear in court on Thursday.
Ditching his high-performance sports vehicle, the 36-year-old businessman and company director arrived at North Shore District Court this morning in a more modest ageing vintage car.
His lawyer, Guyon Foley, entered not guilty pleas to charges of fighting in a public place and dangerous driving, meaning the case is set to go to trial.
Foley also asked the court to suppress his client’s name. He said there had already been some media coverage of the August 11 incident near Silverdale, and though the defendant had been named on social media, he was yet to be named by the Herald.
Publication of his name in mainstream media could cause harm to the man’s company, which had already suffered some damage as a result of media attention, Foley said.
The community magistrate questioned whether “the horse had bolted” in terms of the defendant being named, but agreed to grant an interim suppression order until the man appears for a case review hearing in November - warning that “the operative word is interim”.
She declined a Herald application to take in-court photographs but indicated media were free to take photographs outside court, provided their publication did not breach the suppression order.
A Ponsonby CEO leaving North Shore District Court after his first appearance on charges of fighting in a public place and dangerous driving. Photo / NZME
The chief executive - dressed in sneakers, fawn trousers and a white untucked and unbuttoned shirt - was granted bail on the conditions he did not communicate with the elderly complainant and did not “threaten violence”.
He did not speak except to say, “Yes, Your Honour” when asked if he understood those conditions.
The man signed a bail bond form before leaving court.
‘I did give him the one-finger salute’
The charges relate to an incident last month on the Northern Motorway near Silverdale.
The pensioner, who is 74, told police he was attacked on the roadside at Highgate Parkway after being “tailgated” by the businessman’s luxury 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.
Next, the sports car allegedly pulled in front of the elderly man’s Kia and slowed to about 60km/h, the pensioner claimed.
The 74-year-old claimed he was punched "left and right to the head".
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.
“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.”
Police lay charges against both men following investigation
Both men filed police reports following the incident, blaming the other for the violent altercation.
The pensioner submitted a doctor’s report listing his injuries and likely rehabilitation, and police visited his home to take photographs of his scrapes and bruises.
After taking statements from both men, police laid charges earlier this month, with the pensioner also brought before the court for fighting in a public place.
The pensioner’s family said his physical and mental health had suffered immensely since the incident. They were stunned the retired mechanic and grandfather had been charged and planned to defend the matter in court.
Some of the injuries to a 74-year-old man after an alleged road rage incident at Silverdale on August 11.
The chief executive told the Herald the pensioner was the one at fault.
