Parking warden assaulted over ticket
AFTER receiving a ticket, a Dunedin man abused a parking warden and then tried to shoulder charge him off his scooter, a court has heard.
Harry Albert (52) was sentenced to 100 hours’ community work over the June 22 incident but the details of the attack can only now be published after he admitted another charge at the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
Albert parked his Ford Falcon on Lower Stuart St and at 11.45am he was issued with an infringement notice, tucked under his windscreen wiper.
The defendant grabbed the ticket and began swearing at the parking warden, who was still on the scene.
Holding the piece of paper, he ‘‘rammed it into the victim’s chest’’.
The incident was not over after the two left. Albert turned into Moray Pl and the victim followed shortly afterwards. As he neared the intersection with George St, the defendant was waiting for him in the middle of the road.
When the warden rode past, Albert tried to shoulder charge him off the scooter, the police summary said.
The defendant had one last crack at the victim, trying to force him into the gutter using his vehicle — but again failed.
Albert pleaded guilty to a charge of assault.
‘‘This behaviour on your part was quite unnecessary and quite an extreme reaction to having received a parking ticket,’’ Judge John Macdonald said at the October sentencing.
Albert explained: ‘‘It was just the heat of the moment. I’d been going through some marital problems and separation. It sort of accumulated,’’ he said.
Yesterday, the defendant was back in court where he admitted another assault from the day after the road rage incident.
On that occasion, he pushed his young flatmate in the neck and throat several times during a dispute over music volume.
Defence counsel John Westgate said yesterday his client had completed his communitywork sentence for the first assault in ‘‘almost record time’’.
Albert was now studying and had no history of violence, the court heard.
Judge Michael Crosbie sentenced him to six months’ supervision.