Jeniella Johnson sentenced for driving in menacing matter, assault and intimidation

A southwest Sydney woman has been sentenced for a prolonged road rage incident in the Southern Highlands, in which she intimidated and assaulted a popular ABC local radio presenter. Find out what happened.

A woman has been sentenced for a prolonged road rage incident in the Southern Highlands, saying she was trying to warn the victim - a popular radio presenter - about his driving.

Jeniella Johnson, 24, who is from southwest Sydney, appeared at Moss Vale Court on Tuesday for assaulting and intimidating ABC Illawarra radio presenter Nick Rheinberger during a bout of intense road rage in September last year.

The St Andrews local previously pleaded guilty to knowingly driving a vehicle in a menacing manner, destruction of property, common assault, and intimidation.

Jeniella Johnson was sentenced at Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday for a road rage incident. Picture: Niki Iliagoueva

According to the documents tendered to the court, Johnson was driving her Holden Commodore along Bong Bong Rd in Mittagong at 7.30pm on September 7, 2021 when she arrived at an intersection at the same time as Mr Rheinberger.

He stopped to give way to Johnson, but the documents state she didn’t think he was going to give way to her. The police facts show she verbally abused the victim from her car, but he did not respond.

As the two continued driving along Bong Bong Rd, facts state Johnson slowed down to 40 km/hr in a 60 km/hr zone in an attempt to bait Mr Rheinberger into overtaking her. He didn’t do so, and instead turned down a side road to try and avoid her.

Facts state Johnson cottoned on quickly and also turned down a side road to intercept the victim, saw him approaching an intersection and pulled in front of his car in the middle of the road to block his exit.

She then got out of her car and stood directly in front of Mr Rheinberger’s car while making threatening gestures and yelling “come and get me” according to the police facts.

The victim was finally able to drive around her but heard a loud bang on the side of his car as he drove by.

ABC local radio presenter Nick Rheinberger.

Half an hour later, the facts state Mr Rheinberger was driving home along the Old Hume Highway when he noticed Johnson’s car coming up behind him very quickly. She began flashing her lights and honking her horn repeatedly as she approached, according to the facts.

The facts state the victim turned right but Johnson overtook him and stopped her car, blocking the lane.

According to the court documents, Mr Rheinberger decided to make a U-turn and head to a nearby service station that he knew was well lit and had surveillance cameras.

Police facts state she then followed him while driving dangerously and came to a halt in front of his car and repeatedly yelled for him to “Get out of the f***ing car” and shouted “You nearly ran me over”.

While he retreated to the service station, the facts show she kicked his side mirror and broke it away from the car, leaving it hanging by the wires.

The victim then began to video Johnson as she shouted abuse at him, and the CCTV footage shows her walking up to him and slapping the phone out of his hand. As he bent to collect his phone and his keys, Johnson stepped on his phone and pushed him back.

According to the facts, Mr Rheinberger went back inside the service station to call Triple-0 while Johnson stood in the doorway to prevent him from leaving. She left before the police arrived, but later told police she’d only wanted to speak to the victim about his manner of driving.

Magistrate Mark Douglass referred to the incident as “serious offending”.

“There was a lot of time for you to withdraw and think, ‘Oh what am I doing?’ but you didn’t,” Magistrate Douglass said.

Her lawyer, Michael Doughty, agreed and remarked that “her behaviour was heightened to a whole new level when he (Mr Rheinberger) started recording her”.

He said Johnson accepts the driver was “concerned with her conduct” and that she acknowledged her “poor decision making”.

Mr Doughty also said that just a few weeks before the bout of road rage, Johnson was involved in a car accident “which had badly affected her” and “all she wanted to do was talk to the driver, to warn him of his behaviour, and was concerned for other drivers”.

The court heard that Johnson has been engaging with a psychiatrist for her mental health and is on medication.

“In some regard you're at a crossroads, and thankfully there’s been medical inquiries,” Magistrate Douglass said.

He acknowledged that “there's been a lot of misdiagnosis and therefore treatment that's not been effective”.

Jeniella Johnson was given an 18-month supervised community corrections order and is to report to Campbelltown community corrections.

She is also disqualified from driving for the minimum period of 12 months and is to complete 75 hours of community service.