Brendan John Jordan found guilty of assault after hitting retired firefighter with his car

A farm manager who sent a woman flying through the air and into a ditch “like a ragdoll” when he struck her with his car after an argument over a lamb has been sentenced.

A FARM manager has been found guilty of assault by hitting a woman with his car before fleeing the scene.

Closing submissions in the case against Brendan John Jordan were made on Tuesday at Launceston Magistrates Court.

It was the prosecution case that Jordan, 45, intentionally or recklessly assaulted Sharon McClay, 51, on the side of the Tasman Highway by hitting her with his four-wheel-drive and sending her flying into a ditch with a broken leg.

Brendan John Jordan with his lawyer Mark Doyle, right, at Launceston Magistrates Court. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Magistrate Sharon Cure said she was not convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the act was deliberate, but found Jordan guilty by recklessness as he would have foreseen that he could have hit Mrs McClay when he drove towards her along the verge of the road.

Magistrate Cure said Mrs McClay had been driving home from St Helens and pulled over at Falmouth when she saw a group of crows in a bare paddock, which she thought was unusual.

After she realised the crows were on a lamb, she tried for a half-hour to shoo the crows away before entering the paddock to save it from having its eyes pecked out.

Jordan, the farm’s manager, arrived at the paddock and confronted Mrs McClay, saying she could cause mismothering before snatching the lamb out of her arms.

Magistrate Cure said Mrs McClay called Jordan a “cruel effing bastard” and he threatened her saying she was lucky to leave with her teeth.

She said Jordan took the lamb and drove away before returning to write down Mrs McClay’s registration number.

Mrs McClay was standing on the verge of the road trying see her phone screen to take a photograph of Jordan’s registration plate when he hit her with the car.

Magistrate Cure said Mrs McClay remembered “gravel spraying all over her” as he took off at speed.

Jordan, 45, was found guilty of assault. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Tourist and witness Toni Jones gave evidence at the hearing.

She said she was driving to Scamander with her family.

As she came around a bend she saw Mrs McClay go flying through the air and into a ditch “like a ragdoll” and a white ute speed away.

She said she was unsure if the victim was alive until Mrs McClay raised an arm.

Photos Mrs McClay captured on her phone seconds before being struck showed Jordan’s wheels turned to pull onto the road.

Magistrate Cure said the most likely explanation was that Jordan expected Mrs McClay to move out of the way as he pulled onto the road, but she was looking at her phone screen.

She said he had “ample room” to pull out before hitting Mrs McClay, but did not.

Magistrate Cure convicted and fined Jordan $2000, disqualified him from driving for six months and made a restraint order.

Mrs McClay previously pleaded guilty to trespassing in the St Helens Magistrates Court over the incident.