Tony Matthew Dawes pleads guilty to negligent driving after fight with ex

A forklift operator has been ordered to undertake anger management courses after he got into a fight with his ex and reversed into her car.

A man has pleaded guilty to negligent driving after his ex claimed he reversed into her with his car.

Tony Matthew Dawes, 48, appeared in Moss Vale Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to negligent driving and contravening an apprehended violence order.

The Bowral resident had separated from his partner in December and an AVO was put in place to protect his ex, according to police facts. The order prohibits Dawes from going near his former partner or their Moss Vale house until December 2022.

Police facts state the woman went to the house on March 13 and saw Dawes’s car parked outside. When she approached the car to ask him what he was doing there, the court heard she saw he was with a woman. Although the offender and victim agree on that much, their recollections of the event in the police facts differ from that point on.

Tony Matthew Dawes was convicted for negligent driving after his ex said he hit her with his car.

According to the woman’s version of events outlined in the police facts, Dawes opened and closed his car door and her dress became caught. She told police Dawes reversed, pulling her along with the vehicle, and forcing her to grab a brick and break his windscreen to get him to stop.

When her dress was freed, police facts state the victim ran towards her car but Dawes kept reversing towards her. He collided with her left leg and then hit her car, according to the court documents.

The court heard Dawes had a different version of events to his ex. He admitted to police he had contravened the AVO by being at the house, but said he tried to leave when his ex turned up.

According to his statement in police facts, Dawes denied catching the victim’s clothing in the car door and said she was actually on top of his car bonnet. He agreed she had a brick and smashed his windscreen while he was reversing, although he told police he had to drive forwards and backwards to try and dislodge the victim from the car bonnet.

According to the facts, she slid off the car and fell to the ground, while Dawes kept reversing and hit a gate and then the victim’s parked car.

The court heard the victim then chased him down the road and fell, which Dawes maintains is when she injured her leg. Facts show the victim was treated for soft tissue damage later that day, an injury which is “relatively minor” according to Dawes’s lawyer.

The competing versions of events resulted in the withdrawal of the charge against Dawes failing to stop after impact causing injury.

Tony Matthew Dawes appeared in Moss Vale Local Court on July 7. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Magistrate Mark Douglass said both parties were at fault for the incident, and noted the “aggressive behaviour” of the victim in smashing the windscreen.

“There were some contributory actions on behalf of the victim,” he said.

He sentenced Dawes to an 18-month supervised community corrections order and directed him to undertake drug and alcohol counselling, and to participate in anger management and domestic violence courses.

“Further domestic violence offences could see you in full time custody,” the magistrate warned Dawes.

Dawes, who works as a forklift operator, was also disqualified from driving for six months.