Vicki Hogeboom and her family have moved to the West Coast after life in Milton became too stressful. Photos / Supplied
This is what it's like to be run out of town.
The Hogeboom family had lived in Milton for four years, and they were happy.
What happened on November 5, 2018, they could have withstood, mother Vicki Hogeboom said.
But the "living hell" that followed, they could not.
She, her husband Tony and their two sons were at their Ajax St home having a barbecue, when 12-year-old Joseph took their black Labrador Lucy for her nightly walk.
She dashed on to the road beside the house and was hit by a passing ute driven by Brandon Lee McSkimming, 24.
The loss of the beloved family pet was devastating.
"Seeing her lying on the ground with blood coming out of her mouth — it's all so sad," Vicki Hogeboom told the Dunedin District Court this month.
There was worse to come.
When McSkimming went to speak to them, tempers flared.
He got into his vehicle to leave.
What happened next was the subject of much conjecture and even before sentencing this month, in an interview with Probation, McSkimming disputed the police summary of facts.
His first manoeuvre in the ute hit Tony Hogeboom in the stomach but was not forceful enough to cause any great injury.
In the midst of completing a three-point turn, however, McSkimming ploughed into the victim again, this time hard enough to knock him down.
"He hit the ground so hard I actually thought he was dead," Vicki Hogeboom said.
The victim was briefly knocked unconscious and left nursing a fractured left hand.
But he was so fearful McSkimming would return, he chose to remain with his family through the night rather than seek hospital treatment.
Tony Hogeboom said his hand felt like it had been crushed and later required surgery.
He suffered short-term memory loss, was unable to work on the dairy farm where he was employed and the pain in his hand was "sometimes unbearable", he said.
McSkimming was charged with assault with a weapon, but it only marked the start of the 19-month ordeal the Hogebooms were to face.
When news of the incident became public, the defendant was keen to explain.
A Facebook post from an account in his name, with a link to the Otago Daily Times story, laid out his version of events, in which he claimed to have had "four c**** kicking in and spitting on my truck screaming and abusing me".
The victim, he wrote, had grabbed the bullbar and fallen to the ground as a result of the vehicle's momentum.
"Story twisting c**** anything for a bit of attention ae," the post finished.
Over the following weeks and months, his friends chipped in too, commenting on Vicki Hogeboom's own posts.
One man — who is before the court on other charges — suggested they "go knock on there [sic] door do some real damage".
Another replied: "I'm down".
There were other occasions when they received messages simply with a middle-finger emoji.
Police were only prepared to give the culprits a warning.
The family were not only victimised on social media.
Vicki Hogeboom said there were times when she ran into McSkimming in public while he was on bail.
People took his side, and told her she was not welcome.
There was a "mob mentality", she said.
Her children were targeted.
There were clashes with McSkimming's supporters during court appearances.
Paranoia and fear flooded their lives.
"You can't breathe, you can't live. You worry about going down to the shop," Vicki Hogeboom said.
"Until you live it, there is nothing you can compare it to."
In July last year — eight months after the original flashpoint — they moved to the West Coast.
Tony Hogeboom said they received some assistance from Victim Support but it barely covered the cost of the moving truck.
At this month's sentencing, the family finally felt someone was on their side.
"I'm disgusted by what this family have had to go through," Judge Michael Crosbie told McSkimming.
"It's a shame the bullies, miscreants and lowlifes who saw fit to harass this family for something you did can't be here today and don't have the courage to be here today to see the part they've played in all this."
Counsel Anne Stevens, QC, said her client had saved $1000 to pay the victim but realised it was a "small amount".
Crosbie made the reparation order and sentenced McSkimming to seven months' home detention.
Young men should only be sent to prison as a "last resort", he said.
Vicki Hogeboom was sceptical about whether the penalty would prompt a change in the defendant.
"I don't think he'll ever learn," she said.
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