‘Vigilante’ crashed into car

A man who crashed his car into another vehicle after it sped past his house was warned by a judge that being a vigilante ‘‘was a very risky business’’.

Peter James Clement, 40, of Wyndham, appeared before Judge John Brandts-Giesen in the Invercargill District Court yesterday.

A police summary of facts says about 7pm, a vehicle went around a corner outside Clement’s house at a speed, which caused it to fishtail and the driver nearly lost complete control of the vehicle, the summary says.

Clement got into his car and found the vehicle near Wyndham Racecourse.

As the vehicle went to drive past him, Clement drove into the left corner of the vehicle.

‘‘He then turned around to follow the vehicle but it stopped in front of him and he ran into the back of it.’’

The summary says the four occupants of the vehicle got out, the driver walked up to Clement and grabbed him by his clothes.

After a short conversation, he let him go and Clement left, but as he was driving past, one of the occupants threw ‘‘a large stone’’ at him, hitting him and leaving a cut on his face.

Clement’s lawyer Bill Dawkins said on September 15, Clement was the first to the scene of another accident, in which a teenage woman died at the scene.

Clement admitted dangerous driving on March 26 and was ordered to pay $1800 reparation and disqualified from driving for six months.

Judge Brandts-Giesen said he could understand why Clement would have been angry, but that ‘‘being an angry vigilante is a recipe for disaster’’.