Road rager ran down man in car

A DRIVER who ran down a 21-year-old man in a road rage incident in Ipswich will spend the next four months behind bars.

Victim Mamoe Oti needed hospital treatment after he was thrown onto the bonnet of the driver’s car and then bounced on to its roof before landing in the road.

Driver Cory Michael Mclean was jailed for 12 months – to be released on parole on March 17 – after admitting a charge of dangerous driving and driving with a suspended licence at Ipswich Magistrates Court.

The court heard trouble began when McLean repeatedly blared his horn at a car driven by Mr Oti’s brother because he believed it had stopped at a roundabout in East Ipswich for too long.

McLean, who was driving three young women to a barbecue, then tail-gated the other car.

The court was told that as McLean tried to overtake the vehicle, a woman inside made an offensive gesture towards him and a bottle was thrown at his car.

McLean then claimed that the other car then swerved across the road to block his turn into Norman Street. Mr Oti and his brother then got out of the car and began yelling at him.

Crown Prosecutor Kellie Brown said McLean reversed his car before accelerating at the Oti brothers.

Mamoe Oti was thrown onto the bonnet, smashing the windscreen and bouncing off the roof.

McLean then drove away from the scene but witnesses wrote down his number plate and called police.

The injured man was taken to Ipswich Hospital by ambulance and treated for bruising and a sprained wrist.

Ms Brown asked for a two-and-a-half jail sentence, arguing McLean could have simply reversed his car and avoided a collision, but defence lawyer Matthew Fairclough argued his client should be given a suspended sentence.

Mr Fairclough said McLean had tried to drive around Mr Oti’s car and did not intentionally hit him, but agreed his client had been driving recklessly.

“He did not intend to use his vehicle as a weapon,” he said.

“He was scared for his passengers,” he said.

“He was being threatened – the men were not getting out to have a Sunday afternoon picnic.

“But it’s conceded that he probably could’ve reversed.”

Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin said he found it difficult to believe the Otis’ car had completely blocked the road and said Mclean had made “a deliberately calculated decision to drive recklessly at a person and strike them.”

As well as jailing Mclean, Mr McLaughlin also disqualified him from driving for 18 months.