I assumed he would jump out of the way - Hallwright

Guy Hallwright says he was just trying to get himself and his daughter away from a “nasty" situation when he allegedly ran over a Korean motorist, causing him significant leg injuries.

Mr Hallwright, a senior Forsyth Barr analyst, is defending a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard before an Auckland District Court jury.

Yesterday, Judge Raoul Neave dismissed a more serious charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to injure.

Mr Hallwright's defence is that he did not intend to cause the Korean motorist, Sung Jin Kim, any harm. 

He says he was driving his daughter Isobel to drop her off at a recording studio in upper Symonds St when they stopped at a nearby set of traffic lights.

Mr Kim was in the car behind them, and he honked at them when he mistook a green bus lane light for the main intersection lights, believing Mr Hallwright’s car was holding him up.

Mr Hallwright says the light turned green shortly after and they drove on, with Mr Kim following and still honking behind them.

Mr Kim had earlier denied every using his horn, telling the court the horn on his car was broken.

Mr Hallwright says he pulled up a short distance away to look for a car park near Galbraith’s pub.

“The guy behind us drove past, still honking. And I unfortunately I gave him the fingers and said ‘f*** off’.”

Mr Kim’s car continued driving for a few metres and then screeched to a halt, says Mr Hallwright.

“At which point the whole dynamic of the thing changed, because I suddenly realised this guy is going to make a big deal out of this.

“He screeched to a halt in the middle of the road.

“I thought, 'he’s going to come over here and there’s going to be a physical problem, and if there’s going to be that I want to be over there and not over here'.”

He says he turned his car off, got out and walked towards Mr Kim’s vehicle. 

“I pulled his door wide open and said ‘what is your problem?’. I wouldn’t say I yelled it, but I said it quite forcefully.

“He was reaching over to his left with his right hand, but he stopped doing that when I opened the door, and turned around to look at me.

“That’s when I became very alarmed, because there was a look on his face that really chilled me.

“He had his teeth clenched, and he was staring very malevolently at me. I became very afraid at that point.

“I suddenly realised I was in way over my head and this could potentially be a very nasty situation.”

Mr Hallwright says Mr Kim didn’t say anything, and it occurred to him Mr Kim could have a weapon of some sort, so he slammed the door shut and walked quickly back to his own vehicle.

He says he got back in his car and started to manoeuvre it out of the carpark when Mr Kim started walking quickly towards him.

He says Mr Kim appeared very angry and was shouting before he started banging on the bonnet while he stood at the front of the car.

“He started to move around the side of the car and come towards the driver’s door.

“I had been trying to nudge the car forward to give plenty of sign I was going to try and get out of there.

“At some point, there was a split second where he was around the side of the car, and I just thought, ‘this is your chance before anything else happens’. So I drove the car forward.

“I felt a small bump, probably from the front right, as if the wheel was going over something.”

He says Mr Kim was definitely not in front of the car when he drove forward.

However, this allegedly contradicts the original statements he gave to police on the day the incident happened.

In his statement, he said: “I just sort of suddenly panicked, and I couldn’t … because of where his car was, I couldn’t actually drive past him.

“As he was approaching me, and when he was banging on the bonnet he was at the front of the car, this is when I was inching forward slowly.

“So I just sort of drove forward to get around, and I assumed he would jump out of the way.”

Mr Hallwright’s Queen's counsel, Paul Davison, pointed out to him that while he claims Mr Kim had moved around the side of the car, his statement indicates he was still near the front. 

Mr Hallwright says, “It did go very blank for me at the time, but in the next few days a lot more of it came back, and I realised when I actually drove forward I couldn’t see him".

He claims he could not see Mr Kim when he moved the car forward.

Crown prosecutor Ross Burns questioned whether Mr Hallwright actually could not have seen Mr Kim.

He says evidence suggests Mr Kim’s hands would still have been on the bonnet when the car started moving, so Mr Hallwright should still have been able to see him.

Mr Hallwright denies this, saying he wasn’t focusing on Mr Kim, and was just looking for a gap in the traffic so he could get away.