Man attacks woman he falsely believed tried to run him over

A South Grafton man assaulted a woman and smashed a window of her vehicle after accusing her of trying to run him over earlier in the day.

Clarence Crime generic

A SOUTH Grafton man assaulted a woman at a service station and smashed a window of her car with a skateboard after mistakenly believing she had tried to run him over earlier that day in an "unprovoked attack", a court has heard.

Dean Steven Lear faced Grafton Local Court on Tuesday for sentence after pleading guilty to common assault, intimidation with intent to fear physical harm, damage property, possess prohibited drug, fail to appear to court in accordance with bail conditions, resisting police in execution of duty and assaulting a police officer in execution of duty.

The court heard that at around 11pm on April 4 this year the 40-year-old was at the Coles Express service station in South Grafton with a skateboard when the victim arrived and parked near a petrol pump.

Lear walked towards the vehicle and started banging on one of the windows, and the victim wound down the driver's side window and told Lear to "f--- off".

According to the police facts Lear then accused the victim of trying to run him over earlier in the day, then reached in through the open window and punched the victim in the face.

A witness told Lear to leave the victim alone which distracting him and allowed the victim to get out of the car and take a photograph of Lear, who then approached the victim. With the skateboard raised above his head he again approached the victim then grabbed her by the wrist and said "don't you know who I am, you're a dead c---".

The court heard the victim tried to explain she had been at work all day and had no idea who Lear was, but he refused to listen and then struck out at the vehicle with the skateboard twice, breaking one window.

The witness again told Lear to leave the victim alone and that police were on their way, and Lear fled the scene.

The following day officers from Grafton Police found and arrested Lear, where they found him in possession of 0.25g of marijuana.

The court then heard that Lear failed to appear to answer to the charges in Grafton Local Court, and on July 13 was convicted in absence and a warrant issued for his arrest.

On July 15 at 12.10pm police attended the Great Northern Hotel in South Grafton and found Lear, who became argumentative, telling police the charges were "bulls---" and that he shouldn't have to attend court.

Lear then refused to comply with directions and struggled with police during his arrest, which saw capsicum spray used to bring Lear under control.

In Grafton Local Court on Tuesday magistrate Kathy Crittenden accepted that Lear had some mental health issues with anxiety and attention deficit disorder which contributed to his false belief that "some wrong" had been done to him and that "the victim was involved in almost running him over".

"The harm to the victim needs to be acknowledged, as it would have been a terrifying incident, an unprovoked attack," the magistrate said.

"Your conduct was unwarranted and would have caused the victim considerable fear and distress."

Lear was sentenced to three months behind bars, backdated to July 15, and a community correction order for 12 months.

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