Nui Kereopa has been sentenced for wilful damage following a violent road rage incident. Video / Supplied
''A massive slap in my face."
This is how the victim of a road-rage attack in which her car windscreen was smashed while her young children were inside has described the sentence given to the offender.
Nui Kereopa was given a monetary sentence when he appeared in court on Thursday.
The victim told the Rotorua Daily Post afterwards she was "mind-blown" and the punishment came as ''a massive slap in the face", given the ordeal she and her children went through.
Video footage of Kereopa's attack on the woman's car shows her two young children crying and screaming "go, Mum, go" as Kereopa thumped his fist on their windscreen and bonnet.
The incident happened on Fenton St in Rotorua at about 3.30pm on February 13.
Nui Kereopa at his sentencing in the Rotorua District Court. Photo / Andrew Warner
Kereopa appeared in Rotorua District Court for sentencing yesterday before Community Magistrate Sherida Cooper after previously pleading guilty to a charge of wilful damage.
She convicted Kereopa and ordered him to pay $500 for the victim's insurance excess and $400 in emotional harm reparation to the victim.
The victim previously told the Rotorua Daily Post she started filming the incident because she wanted to get the man's number plate.
Her camera was still running when Kereopa stopped in front of her making her stop in the middle of the road and then launched into a violent rage.
The video shows Kereopa coming to the victim's driver's side window and swearing at her before he smashes his fist on the windscreen, causing it to shatter. He then thumps the bonnet twice.
As she drives away, she tells Kereopa her children are in the car. The children can be heard on the video crying, saying "go, Mum, go" and "Mummy, I want to go home ... just drive, Mummy."
In court yesterday, Kereopa's lawyer, Casey Treanor, initially expressed concern about the media interest in the case given she had only briefly spoken to Kereopa.
She suggested to Cooper it might be better to get assigned counsel to give full submissions to "put his best foot forward".
However, Cooper said it was a "straightforward sentencing" and was going to be about reparation only.
Treanor said Kereopa had attended two anger management sessions through Mana Social Services.
"He is remorseful in terms of he didn't realise there were kids in the vehicle. He had a young child in his vehicle and he was cut off by the complainant. He has then taken the matter into his own hands and allowed his anger to get away with him."
When the victim was told by the Rotorua Daily Post after the court hearing what Kereopa's sentence was, she said: "Wow. Just wow. I am so disappointed at the entire process and outcome."
She said she was surprised he did not get any other penalty.
"I cannot believe that's all he got. Mind blown."
She said she did not want his money but wanted to make sure he didn't make contact with her in the future.
In her view: "Our legal system is backwards. No wonder people like this guy act like this, there is basically no penalty. Shocked."
She said to this day she did not know what it was she did with her driving to upset him but she said she never expected what happened.
Nui Kereopa's violent road rage incident on Fenton St was captured on video by the victim. Photo / Supplied
"I feel like this outcome is a massive slap in my face. There wasn't even an order of no contact issued and that was the only thing I requested."
The victim told the Rotorua Daily Post she and her children, both aged under 10, were traumatised for a long time after the incident.
Her children had had trouble sleeping in the weeks following the incident and she was too shaken to drive for a couple of weeks but had since got back behind the wheel.
