STATE OF TASMANIA v NATHAN JARARD GRANT 16 DECEMBER 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Mr Grant has pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving and assault. These charges relate to hostilities that occurred in Wynyard on 9 May this year. For reasons that I need not explain, Mr Grant visited the home of a Mr Richards and they became very angry with one another. Mr Grant got into his car to leave. Mr Richards threw a spanner at the rear passenger side window, smashing the glass. Mr Grant drove north on Bowick Street to its junction with the old Bass Highway, failed to give way to a vehicle on his right, performed a U turn on the old Bass Highway, and drove back onto Bowick Street. The driver of the oncoming westbound vehicle on the old Bass Highway had to brake heavily to avoid a collision with Mr Grant’s vehicle. Mr Grant proceeded to drive onto the wrong side of Bowick Street and drive on a collision course towards Mr Richards, who was standing outside his home. Mr Richards jumped out of the way of the car just in time. The car came within 50 centimetres of him. Mr Grant swerved to his left and then drove away.
It had been raining. The road surfaces were wet. Mr Grant’s dangerous driving could easily have caused a collision with the other vehicle, or with Mr Richards. The act of driving at Mr Richards constituted the crime of assault.
Mr Grant voluntarily attended the Wynyard police station eight days later, took part in a formal interview, and admitted what he had done. He has pleaded guilty at an early stage.
He was 31 years old on the day in question and is now 32. He is unemployed. He has been dealt with by magistrates for two earlier assaults – one in 2011 and another in 2015. As a result of the second of those assaults he was required to attend a program relating to aggression. He has a number of driving convictions. He has been disqualified from driving by magistrates on seven occasions. However he has never had to serve a prison sentence.
His counsel told me that he suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, that he has a problem with mood swings, that he was not taking any medication for his condition at the relevant time, and that he has subsequently sought assistance from a psychiatrist.
It is fortunate that no one was injured in this incident. Someone would have been hurt if the other driver and Mr Richards had not both successfully taken evasive action when confronted with emergency situations. Mr Grant used his car as a weapon. In my view his conduct was not quite serious enough for me to send him to prison. A probation officer has reported that he is ineligible for an order requiring community service because of a hand injury. In the circumstances I think the most appropriate punishment will be a wholly suspended sentence of imprisonment together with a disqualification from driving. If I had been able to impose community service in this case, I would have imposed a shorter disqualification period. However a disqualification is certainly a punishment that fits the crimes.
Nathan Jarard Grant, I convict you and sentence you to four months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended on condition that you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of two years. I also make an order that you be disqualified from driving for two years and six months.