Judge Clark said he drove in such a way it caused the victim “fear and concern” as he repeatedly tried to overtake her, slowing down and steering his vehicle into hers to try to force her off the road, requiring her to take evasive action.
He then pulled in front of her, coming to a stop and then running out in front of her car to block her path using his body.
She tried to drive around him before he then jumped in front of her, severely injuring himself.
Three months earlier, after being told their relationship was over, Wood put his hands around the victim’s throat for a short time, but long enough for them to leave red marks on her, resulting in him being charged with assault with intent to injure.
Crown prosecutor Bolivia Newton said Wood’s actions also posed a risk to other road users, however he was fortunate there were no other motorists at the time.
She said the victim was highly vulnerable, being pregnant at the time.
“I think it’s incredibly fortunate that there wasn’t further serious injury and that there weren’t other road users.
“The fact this occurred in the context of family violence, at the time of the lead offending, that the victim didn’t want to continue any type of relationship with him is an aggravating feature, along with the level of recklessness.”
He also had 18 other criminal convictions, mostly for family violence.
Wood’s lawyer Mark Sturm successfully pushed for a sentence of home detention, after highlighting his client’s Section 27 report and the “some months” he’d already spent on remand.
He said the person who was most badly injured was his client, but “that’s not to say that the victim was not subject to some danger as well and appears to have had minor injuries fortunately in terms of glass smashing on her”.
“The person who was taken to hospital with significant and serious injuries was the defendant himself.”
A pre-sentence report stated Wood had minimised his offending, and the other assault on his partner did not help along with his “unattractive” personal history, but he was a person who had been unable to deal with personal circumstances that most in life go through and were able put it to one side.
“He’s clearly having difficulty in doing that.”
He had strong family support, including from his mother who was in court to support him, as he streamed in via audio-visual link from prison.
Wood had also completed an alcohol and drug course while on remand.
The S27 report revealed the rough relationship he had with his father growing and Sturm suggested that had led him into drug use at a young age and to lash out, leading to the person he now is today.
He asked Judge Clark to put an earlier sentence indication of a 30-month start point from a different judge to one side, which she agreed to do, arriving at 26 months.
She then applied discounts for his guilty plea, his cultural report, his willingness to attend a restorative justice, and steps to rehabilitate.
“You have spent some time in custody which can be acknowledged as well and the reason I say it’s acknowledged is because while I consider your history in the past shows that there are certainly matters that suggest that there are risks that you pose to more people that you are in personal relationships with, I’m satisfied that there is good support for you ... my view is the least restrictive sentence is that of home detention.”
Wood was sentenced to seven months’ home detention but also given a warning that if he breached it, he would go back into custody.
