Road-rage attacker hit driver with pool cue; weeps when jailed

Road rage assault offender Jason Thomson, 25, from Te Puke was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court on Monday. Photo/File

A Te Puke man, who hit another motorist in the face with a pool cue during a road-rage incident, wept as he was jailed for 25 months.

Jason Thomson, 25, who earlier pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a weapon and cultivating cannabis, was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court today.

Thomson took exception to his victim's driving on the State Highway 2 expressway between Baypark and Papamoa on August 13, the court heard.

When the victim stopped at a red light at the intersection of Domain and Gravatt Rds on August 13 last year, Thomson parked behind him and hopped out of his car.

Armed with a half a pool cue Thomson remonstrated with the victim before striking him in the face. The left side of the victim's face was significantly bruised.

Police searched Thomson's home on November 2 and found a cannabis-growing room and 200g of cannabis plant material, commonly known as "cabbage".

Lawyer Whare Hika told Judge Thomas Ingram that his client insisted he was acting in self-defence as he believed his family in the car were in danger.

Thomson outlined his remorse for his actions in a letter of apology handed to the judge, Hika said.

Judge Ingram told Thomson, who he noted had several convictions for violence, that he failed to understand the seriousness of the situation by trying to excuse his behaviour.

"You and anybody else out there needs to understand people who engage in this type of offending go to jail," the judge said.

"Nothing other than a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate, particularly given this violence was clearly premeditated."

Thomson wept as he was taken away to start serving his prison sentence.