A farmer convicted of assaulting a woman with his tractor has won the right to challenge his conviction, claiming he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Carl Randall Martin was found guilty in December of an attack in which he drove into a woman who had
crashed into a fence on his property. He scooped her into his tractor's loader bucket before dumping her on the road.
Today he appeared in the Maunkau District Court for sentencing, but Judge Charles Blackie allowed a challenge against his conviction.
Richard Wood, counsel for the 51-year-old farmer from Wairamarama, south of Tuakau, said in court today that police failed to properly investigate the allegation and claimed police failed to give Martin all the information known to them prior to the hearing.
Mr Wood also claimed Martin's defence counsel during the trial failed to carry out instructions to research a "strikingly similar case involving the same complainant".
That case, which was not fully discussed in court, happened in 2002. Charges were dismissed.
The Crown did not contest the application and Judge Blackie said he would hear the application on February 26. Martin was further remanded on bail until that date.
However, the judge warned Martin: "If this application is unsuccessful, and it involves an attempt to discredit the complainant, that could be an aggrevating factor."
Martin was found guilty after the earlier hearing heard he became so incensed after the woman crashed into a fence at his property that he drove into her six times.
He knocked her hat off with the tractor's bucket and, at one point, lowered the bucket on to her head, the court was told.
Then he pinned his victim up against her vehicle before scooping her up in the bucket and tipping her on the gravel road.
