A 19-year-old Toms Creek resident who knowingly drove his vehicle into the back of another car on the Oxley Highway at a speed of around 100 kilometres per hour has fronted Port Macquarie Local Court.
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Beau Halliday Lindsay, of Toms Creek Road, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Price on September 26.
The maximum penalty for the offences is a $2200 fine and losing his licence for three years.
The incident occurred at Ellenborough on July 12, 2019.
Magistrate Price said the facts were concerning.
The court was told that Lindsay had started an earth moving business in opposition to the victim.
"This is effectively bad blood," the magistrate said. "This is taking the law into your own hands in a lawless fashion."
Lindsay's solicitor Nicholas Lawton said there had been an ongoing dispute with (the victim).
"It is a commercial dispute," he told the court.
"My client has recently started an earth moving business. There is a background to the provocation.
"There are instances where the victim has followed closely behind (my client's vehicle).
"In this instance, the victim has followed my client's vehicle and flashed his lights.
"My client has pulled over, but the adrenaline is pumping and he made a poor decision. This was after a history of 18 months, he has made one error," he told the court.
Mr Lawton described the matter as "a single, bad decision".
He said there was minimal damage to the victim's vehicle, the incident occurred on a country road and there were no other road users.
"No one was injured," he said.
Magistrate Price said Lindsay had the opportunity to "desist from his behaviour but your client chose to then follow the victim in his car, ramming the victim's vehicle".
"When there is a deliberate collision in a menacing situation, it is not at the lower end of the scale," she said.
Mr Lawton pointed to Lindsay's clean driving record which included no speeding fines.
Magistrate Price placed Lindsay on a conditional release order for two years without conviction.
"I am giving you the benefit on this occasion," she said.
"Your employment and your family rely on your licence.
"A lot rides on you being of good behaviour," she said.
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