A driver who terrorised two groups of cyclists on a road near his house, nudging one with his car and pushing another into a ditch, will appeal against his sentence after being jailed for seven months.
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Daniel John West, 27, of Sutton, near Canberra, pleaded guilty in Queanbeyan Local Court on Monday to charges of assault and intimidation. The charges relate to two separate incidents along the Old Federal Highway.
On April 21, West overtook a group of three cyclists along the highway, missing them by a narrow margin. The cyclists noted where West turned into his property further down the road and stopped to photograph the site to report his dangerous driving.
West then pursued the cyclists in his car and pulled over to confront them. Police facts before the court report him saying, “Why are you taking photos of my house? This is my road and I hate you f---ing c---s.”
He pushed a female cyclist into the ditch alongside the road, causing bruising to her lower legs and elbow, before taking a pole from his car and swinging it at the group.
Police interviewed and charged West after the incident and recorded that West was “tired of cyclists on that road and believes they can find another location”.
Two months later he again overtook a group of 10-12 cyclists along the Old Federal Highway, before coming back and revving his car engine behind the group and performing burnouts. He twice nudged the bike of a male cyclist with his car, before getting out of the car, pushing the man to the ground and grabbing him around the throat.
West was sentenced to seven months’ jail on Monday with a non-parole period of three months. He was granted bail later that day to appeal against the sentence in the district court in March.
His solicitor, Frank Wilson, told the court that West suffered from depression on “suppressed rage” as a result of growing up with domestic violence.
Mr Wilson said his client had been angered by the cyclists taking photos of his property and would undergo an anger management course as a result of the incident.
“He didn’t want photos taken of his partner or his children and he reacted in an extreme way,” Mr Wilson said.
“He’s a big man and if he loses control he can do things that he very much regrets down the line.”
Magistrate Chris Bone said the charges were “quite serious” and turned down a request from the defence that West be granted a suspended sentence. He noted West was already on bonds at the time of these attacks for offences committed in Goulburn last year and in the ACT in February.
“I think this defendant’s opportunity to stay out of jail was given to him in September [2012] and then again in the ACT in February.”
West will appeal the jail sentence on March 24.
