9-1/2 years' jail for road rage incident

File photo / NZ Herald

A road rage incident which led to what a judge has described as "upright thuggery" has earned a Rotorua man a 9-1/2 year jail term.

Richard Marsters, 50, was sentenced today in the High Court at Hamilton after being convicted of attempted murder and assault with a weapon - a pistol.

Justice Denis Clifford ordered that the sentence be served cumulatively to a four-year prison term Marsters is presently serving for drugs offences.

He set a non-parole period of six years.

The charges stem from a road rage incident in Rotorua in November 2008, when Marsters attacked his victim, pointing a pistol at him and firing it twice. The first shot hit the man in the jaw, the second went through his arm.

- NZPA