Business owner escapes jail for running over, bashing wife’s attacker

A business owner has appeared in court after running over a “thug” – who had terrorised his pregnant wife while she was driving – and then bashing him as he lay trapped under the vehicle. The incident took place outside a school south of Brisbane.

A Logan business owner has narrowly avoided jail time after he ran over and then bashed a man who had terrorised his wife on the road, following her, shouting at her and throwing rocks and other items at her car.

New Beith man Joshua Ian Glenny, 40, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh District Court to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and common assault following the August 21, 2018, incident.

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The court heard about 2.50pm, Glenny’s pregnant wife was “violently accosted” by two brothers near Thompson Rd, Greenbank, who began tailgating her for “no reason”.

Glenny’s wife brake-checked them twice, but that only made them “more aggressive and agitated”.

The passenger began throwing fruit and other items at Glenny’s wife’s car as the driver travelled on the wrong side of the road to draw level with her.

As the passenger screamed at her and gave her the finger, Glenny’s wife tried to speed up to be near other cars to “de-escalate” the situation, as by this point the roads were becoming thick with school pick-up traffic.

At one point, the passenger got out of his car to throw rocks at Glenny’s wife’s car and he kicked her left-hand mirror clean off, while the driver rammed Glenny’s wife.

Glenny’s wife had by now phoned her husband, who sped to Greenbank State School, outside of which his wife had pulled over and she was trapped in her car.

When Glenny arrived and saw a man in a hi-vis jacket near his wife’s car, he pulled a swift U-turn and ran over the man, who bounced off the windscreen and then went under the wheels.

Glenny got out of the car and then struck the man as he lay trapped under the vehicle.

He was charged the following day.

Defence counsel Michael Nicolson told the court his client’s actions were “not vigilantism”, but rather the actions of a worried husband responding to “two thugs” in a situation where “no one was helping”.

“It was only due to the criminal actions of the brothers,” Mr Nicolson submitted, noting his client arrived to rescue his wife while dressed in tracksuit pants, hardly the outfit of a man on a premeditated mission.

The court heard the driver of the other car had since been sentenced to serve six months of an 18-month sentence for his role in the incident while the passenger has been charged but is yet to enter a plea.

Judge Ian Dearden agreed it was an “extraordinary and unusual” circumstance.

However, he said Glenny had an “ongoing obligation to other road users” which he breached by speeding in the school zone and performing an illegal U-turn over double lines.

Glenny was sentenced to 18 months’ jail wholly suspended, and disqualified from driving for six months.