A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for a road rage attack on a 56-year-old grandmother in Perth, who recorded the incident on her mobile phone. Anwar Hautapu was a passenger in a car on the Kwinana Freeway in Success last October when he leaned out of the vehicle and verbally abused the woman, then threw an object at her moving car before smashing her window with his fist.
The victim suffered scratches and bleeding to her face and neck. Hautapu pleaded guilty to criminal damage and assault occasioning bodily harm in Fremantle Magistrates Court last month. At the time of the attack, he was serving a suspended jail term for unrelated matters.
During the sentencing hearing, his lawyer Justin Geoghegan explained that Hautapu had been at Adventure World with his partner and one-month-old baby that day. His partner was driving home when she swerved to avoid the victim's vehicle merging on the freeway. Geoghegan described his client's reaction as a complete overreaction, noting that Hautapu recognized his actions were unjustifiable and grossly inappropriate.
Magistrate Elizabeth Langdon rejected the request for a suspended sentence, stating the incident was serious and such conduct would not be tolerated. She remarked, 'You clearly are a man of a short fuse who decided very quickly to take the law into your own hands.' Hautapu was also ordered to pay $700 to repair the victim's vehicle.
