Bairnsdale man Matthew Kelly faces charges of threatening to destroy/damage property and assault with weapon

An aggressive Lakes Entrance Woolies employee threatened to bash a man he worked with while also threatening to wreck his car with a tire iron.

Matthew Kelly fronted the Bairnsdale Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to charges of threatening to destroy/damage property and assault with a weapon.

An enraged Woolworths employee told his boss he was going to “bash” him and wreck his car after disliking the way he believed he was being treated.

Matthew Kelly, 47, faced the Bairnsdale Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday pleading guilty to charges of threatening to destroy/damage property and assault with a weapon.

The court heard on the morning of November 29 last year, Kelly’s victim was driving to Woolworths in Lakes Entrance on Marine Pde when he saw a car — driven by Kelly on the opposite side of the road — flashing lights at him.

Kelly then did a U-turn, followed the victim, continued to flash his lights and beeped his horn.

When the man turned into the Woolworths carpark, Kelly pulled up in front of him, got out of his car and walked over to the victim’s vehicle waving a tire iron above his head in a threatening motion.

“I’m going to bash you — for what you have done to me,” Kelly said.

Confused, the man asked Kelly what he had done, and Kelly said the victim didn’t look after him or his mental health.

The court heard Matthew Kelly threatened to bash a man in the Woolworths car park in Lakes Entrance last year. Picture: Google Maps

“I’m going to bash you and wreck your car — it’s a small town and you’re not getting away with it,” Kelly said, before he got into his car and drove away.

Kelly was arrested the next day and in an interview, he told police he “just lost it”.

“I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I wanted to get him — but I didn’t, I only had the thingy out in case he drove past me,” Kelly said in his interview.

“I said, ‘you need somewhere else to work’.”

Kelly also said if the victim “kept going” he would have “put it (the tire iron) through his back windscreen”.

The court heard Kelly, who now works as a cleaner at K Hub, knew he behaved poorly.

Magistrate Natalie Heynes said it was unclear how it got “so out of hand”.

“I can only imagine how frightening that must have been for this individual,” Ms Heyes said.

“That type of public display of aggression and violence is unacceptable.”

Kelly was convicted, ordered to pay $500 to the court fund and was placed on adjourned undertaking for 12 months.